This week the Diablo III Community Manager Bashiok answered a few questions from the Battle.net forum community continuing the analysis of the gameplay video shown at the 2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals.
Whether all classes will have an ability to traverse obstacles like the Barbarian did, or if they will have to use alternate routes.
Bashiok: While the crumbling bridge could be taken quite literally, it was intended to get the idea across that Diablo III will have more interactive and responsive environmental hazards. Of course if such obstacles existed in the way they were displayed every class would need some way to proceed. At this time we aren't announcing any additional class abilities though.
Is the demo dungeon really Tristram Cathedral? The screenshots are under the Tristram entry on the website, but it's got a different name in the demo. Is it really a test dungeon all around, including the name? Is is it akin to the mini dungeons of Diablo 2, same texture set, randomly generated and individually named.
Bashiok: It used the same "tile set" as the Tristram Cathedral dungeon including a specially made entry room. It was a static and specifically crafted dungeon especially for the demo, so yes it includes the look for Tristram Cathedral, but it's not a true piece of the game as you would play through it.
I've read comments from different developers that the remaining character classes will be entirely new, others indicating there are other classes that have been re-envisioned and revamped. Which is it? Fans are commonly assuming at least the pure caster like the Sorc will return. The Lore guys have also made a point of emphasizing the look and attitude of "veterans" from D2.
Bashiok: Hey, are you kind of kid who reads the last page of a mystery first? Who pesters the magician to tell you his tricks? Who sneaks downstairs to peek at his Christmas presents? Nooooo... of course you're not. That's why I'm noooot goooonna teeeeell yoooou!
Characters can use any and all types of items, barring class specific ones (if I remember an early post you made correctly.) Yet no requirements are listed on the items in the demo. Too early to see the complete package, or change in item requirements?
Bashiok: What I said was: "... we don't plan nor have any armor items at the moment that are class specific - although the bonuses and stats may be better suited to a certain class - anyone can pick up any chest/shoulder/leg/etc item and wear it. However, there are some weapons/off-hand items that are class specific."
No changes to this yet, there just weren't any drops that were class specific. We essentially "hand placed" every drop that happened in the video. We knew people were going to dissect and scrutinize every detail, and everything that drops in that video was purposefully and specifically chosen to be dropped... everything.
Fun fact: I played as the female barbarian for the recording.
The awesome biting off of heads and such...does it relate to game play in some way, or is it a visual effect?
Bashiok: Well the way we imagined the final fight going down when thinking about the flow of the presentation was to have a few heroes killed off, and thought it would be cooler to see someone get ripped in half by a giant demon than just fall down. While it was an event made for the presentation it could definitely be worked in to the actual end-product. We try not to spend time on anything that can't be incorporated in some way. If there's a mockup or some cool flavor added in somewhere to show something off, we want to build it so that it can actually be used.
Outdoor environments. Are they for the most part randomly generated like the dungeons? I've been getting the impression there are more static areas , excluding cities, in the outdoors as opposed to the dungeons.
Bashiok: They're for the most part static. With the outdoor environments we felt we could get a lot more out of them by crafting large and visually impressive scenes, which random map generation really just doesn't allow for all that well. By that same token one of the main goals with Diablo III is to flesh out Sanctuary, to make it feel more like you're in this living and breathing world. With towns shifting around everywhere you do sort of lose a sense of cohesion, and an attachment to the places you're visiting.
On a very slight technical note - for random map generation you're essentially creating a bunch of rooms that can all fit together in various ways. It works quite well for a dungeon which is essentially a series of rooms any way. For an outdoor environment though it tends to make it either fairly bland, or fairly linear just by how the edges have to line up. You're either running zig-zag patterns to find the map edges, or you're running down a narrow pathway. Neither are extremely compelling, and at the same time you're losing the visual grandness that could come from a fully hand-crafted and artistically realized environment.
That said, the outdoor areas aren't completely static.
looks like they're toying with us alot
"every item drop was hand placed"? I'm guessing they're having fun by placing a staff (caster) and a bow (ranged) and watch us puzzled about which class stays and which not... Anyway, it pretty much confirms there will be a caster and a ranged class, even if we dont know anything specific.
as for the "biting the head off" ability, i think fatalities arent hard to implement at all. Especially since there arent any healers around, its not hard to have the program calculate killing blows and make them look as spectacular as we saw.
1) Venturing above ground will be very static but a richly painted canvas nevertheless. We will not get random areas like the Black Marsh or Cold Plains.
The randomness of the maps in D2 aids replayability. I take the point that quality graphics has won out over random tiles with the same edges in order to allow seamless joining. I am ambivalent here. Bring on the richly drawn maps. But how soon will these same maps begin to be repetitive when replaying?
2) Non-class specific armour. Some modifiers will be more useful for some classes (perhaps e.g. "+10 to mana") and some armour just won't make sense for some classes. So that hasn't changed. But this means we now won't get the Barb helms and the necro shrunken heads and the druid pelts.
Can anyone suggest why this has happened? What is the good of this?
------------------
I want to see heads getting ripped off and my character's arm getting ripped off and me having to limp back to town for repair to one leg and with a gaping hole in my abdomen. With a trail of blood in my wake too and some monster following behind, licking up my entrails....
Glad to hear that the disappearing path the barb had to leap/tele over was just an example of what is possible. Giving everyone teleport would suck.
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So we've got over the problem of colour in D3. Great. Now let's argue about everything else not yet set in stone and help make this game simply great! Game on.
I am definitely concerned with the static world. It will make the game seem too linear. You can simply know where to go to get to bosses, kill them, get items, and repeat, where as Diablo 2, you actually have to find the area half the time. (Unless you use programs)
Please everyone, try to read the the entire post before jumping to conclusions.
*Out door areas will be mostly static, does not mean the whole world will be static and everything in it.
*There was no class specific armor in D2... everyone could wear any type of armor, it just looked different on the characters. It was noted previously by Bashiok that there would still be class specific weapons and such.
I don't even knoe why people ask this guy questions, there all half answers. No good info at all. And there's no way that Blizzard are gonna come up with brand new characters with completely diff skills. They'll just copy the old character's, give em new names and a few new skills.
I find it interesting how he emphasized that everything was hand picked to drop in the game knowing the whole community would scrutinize each item. If you didn't know before then understand now that Blizzard knows what they are doing and nothing that was shown was an accident but put there fore a purpose.
I am not too worried about the outside worlds being too static, I personally like the fact that a town will always be in the same place it makes more sense. That doesn't mean the landscape won't change. Its basically like it is now. The room with each boss is static but getting there might not be.
the one thing that i've been worried about is that the dungeons of each area wont be as important (and thus less interesting to explore). Take for example "The Pit" in act 1, the tombs in act2, some random caves in act 3 and abaddon in Act 5 (those are the few that come to mind). I went to explore them once/twice but then i found there wasnt anything of interest in there.
Where "something of interest" should be either a quest that tells a story, a new boss or good loots.
*There was no class specific armor in D2... everyone could wear any type of armor, it just looked different on the characters. It was noted previously by Bashiok that there would still be class specific weapons and such.
Incorrect. There was class specific in D2. Barb helms, Dru helms, Nec shields, and Pala shields.
I wouldn't be surprised if they bring back cs items and add more like helms for wd.
Incorrect. There was class specific in D2. Barb helms, Dru helms, Nec shields, and Pala shields.
I wouldn't be surprised if they bring back cs items and add more like helms for wd.
they said, there will be class specific offhand and mainhands...soo...you can take nec shields and pal shields off that list of yours, theyre only taking out the ugly druid helms and barb helms
In regards to the outside world being static, i think this would be totally fine.
My reason? well, imagine your walking around in the new D3 world of sanctuary, and lets say you just destroyed the monsters in "The den". And you want to help your friend do that in the next game. You get into that game, and you go to the same place the Den was last game, but its not there! The map is the same, but the content generated on it is different.
If this is the case, then I am perfectly fine with the outside world being static.
I like some of the ideas floating around here, making dungeons more significant and worthwhile to explore and improving quests. D2 quests got very old, doing the same exact ones and knowing where all of them would be got old, I think this time around quests will be much better, especially with the random quests included.
And it makes sense that the towns stay in the same area, why would a town up and move in a world, the developers are trying to make the game more immersive and are trying to make you feel a part of the world. Also in D2 towns never moved either.
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"This is the triumph of man:
Where there is truth, he must find.
Where there is destruction, he must rebuild.
Where there is love, he must protect."
World's Fair Exhibit
"God gave us memories, that in life's garden we may have June roses in December."
And it makes sense that the towns stay in the same area, why would a town up and move in a world, the developers are trying to make the game more immersive and are trying to make you feel a part of the world. Also in D2 towns never moved either.
yeah, I agree with this approach. I hope its not like TQ though, I couldnt replay that game through again cause everything was the same.
Even though d2 areas aren't really that random or different when you look at it closely, the enemy placement was and the loot was, so it kind of tricks you into believing its more random than it really is since each trip through is different in one way or another.
A semi-static world with random boss mobs or some random questlines from time to time should still hold that replayability while giving an immersive overworld.
Please everyone, try to read the the entire post before jumping to conclusions.
*Out door areas will be mostly static, does not mean the whole world will be static and everything in it.
*There was no class specific armor in D2... everyone could wear any type of armor, it just looked different on the characters. It was noted previously by Bashiok that there would still be class specific weapons and such.
Please do your home work before you make a response, D2-LOD had class specific weapons aswell as Armors read up please.
I also hope the environment isnt static, im hoping none of the areas are thats what made titan quest boring for me knowing where to go to farm a boss for items.
Also i dont really like the Graphic detail of the environment looks like a painted picture to me probly just me but thats what im seeing, the 3d rendered characters look nice.
Character/ class wise im hoping there is a caster class, but from the looks of it NO NECROMANCER #@!$!@$$#!$!#@$#@$!#@$#@$!%$#@!@#$!#@$$, i love my necro :(.
Personally, I read the bit about the biting-off-head thing being purely scripted and was a bit disappointed. One aspect of the game that seemed to be conveyed in the videos was that there would be more actual arcade-style tactics involved. For example, the Barbarian and his constant use of skills and the Witch Doctor deftly avoiding enemies and sending out pets to clear up the mess General-Style.
I was hoping that the biting-head thing was an actual ability that the monster had. That is, he used it every so often and every so often it would succeed (with varying degrees of difficulty depending on player skills/items, etc.). Further, I was hoping that this would be despite health; that is, that it wouldn't just be an "end move".
I think allowing for some monsters to have this ability would definitely make the manner of attacking bosses much more tactical and interesting. In previous Diablo games, especially on harder levels, battles tended to either be of the toe-to-toe type where you just drank potions as fast as you could or the type where you were low on potions and the enemy around in a circle trying to get your one or two potshots off here or there. Group dynamics changes this a bit but, surprisingly, not too terribly much.
Whereas if I was assured that Diablo could grab me by the throat and spit flames on my face, reducing my manly visage to nothing but a charred skull, and he could do this at any time, you bet your butt that last battle wouldn't just b a "smash and heal" extravaganza.
I'm thinking the outside environment will be similar to D2, but improved. Think about it, he said mostly static, to me that means the area map will stay the same, but for example, if you were in the stony field and looking for the entrance into tristram, that would be in a different spot. I think this method could easily work, especially for those who MF.
With wat minor info we were given i have to agree with having more static outdoors. D2 outdoor areas were very repetetive, It was like fighting in a really long paddock. The jungle stage was a tad more interesting.
What your forgetting is that in D2, you just had dirt, grass, water, the odd tree (except for the jungle) and everything could be placed pretty much everywhere.
Now, with 3D, you need much more detail in everything, and if you want something to look good with detail, and play good, you're going to need to script it in some way, and not be completely random.
I'm sure they said stuff about random quests/adventures that would take place, and semi-random/random interiors would make this extremely usefull.
i am really acheing about this release date i wanna know it's probably gonna be released in 2009 i bet or if it is gonna be bad a$$ with alot of stuff 2010
I'm glad everything outdoors will be mainly static, after playing Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, and seeing how long the appeal lasts, I'd rather have static environments than playing Hellgate:London which consisted of poorly done bland repetitive Tilesets and an automated map generator ( the random maps in Hellgate were not hand made ). I think the parts in Diablo 3 that will be random would be the caves, crypt's, ect., that you find throughout the game that are more of a choice to explore than required.
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Bashiok: While the crumbling bridge could be taken quite literally, it was intended to get the idea across that Diablo III will have more interactive and responsive environmental hazards. Of course if such obstacles existed in the way they were displayed every class would need some way to proceed. At this time we aren't announcing any additional class abilities though.
Bashiok: It used the same "tile set" as the Tristram Cathedral dungeon including a specially made entry room. It was a static and specifically crafted dungeon especially for the demo, so yes it includes the look for Tristram Cathedral, but it's not a true piece of the game as you would play through it.
Bashiok: Hey, are you kind of kid who reads the last page of a mystery first? Who pesters the magician to tell you his tricks? Who sneaks downstairs to peek at his Christmas presents? Nooooo... of course you're not. That's why I'm noooot goooonna teeeeell yoooou!
Bashiok: What I said was: "... we don't plan nor have any armor items at the moment that are class specific - although the bonuses and stats may be better suited to a certain class - anyone can pick up any chest/shoulder/leg/etc item and wear it. However, there are some weapons/off-hand items that are class specific."
No changes to this yet, there just weren't any drops that were class specific. We essentially "hand placed" every drop that happened in the video. We knew people were going to dissect and scrutinize every detail, and everything that drops in that video was purposefully and specifically chosen to be dropped... everything.
Fun fact: I played as the female barbarian for the recording.
Bashiok: Well the way we imagined the final fight going down when thinking about the flow of the presentation was to have a few heroes killed off, and thought it would be cooler to see someone get ripped in half by a giant demon than just fall down. While it was an event made for the presentation it could definitely be worked in to the actual end-product. We try not to spend time on anything that can't be incorporated in some way. If there's a mockup or some cool flavor added in somewhere to show something off, we want to build it so that it can actually be used.
Bashiok: They're for the most part static. With the outdoor environments we felt we could get a lot more out of them by crafting large and visually impressive scenes, which random map generation really just doesn't allow for all that well. By that same token one of the main goals with Diablo III is to flesh out Sanctuary, to make it feel more like you're in this living and breathing world. With towns shifting around everywhere you do sort of lose a sense of cohesion, and an attachment to the places you're visiting.
On a very slight technical note - for random map generation you're essentially creating a bunch of rooms that can all fit together in various ways. It works quite well for a dungeon which is essentially a series of rooms any way. For an outdoor environment though it tends to make it either fairly bland, or fairly linear just by how the edges have to line up. You're either running zig-zag patterns to find the map edges, or you're running down a narrow pathway. Neither are extremely compelling, and at the same time you're losing the visual grandness that could come from a fully hand-crafted and artistically realized environment.
That said, the outdoor areas aren't completely static.
http://www.blizzplanet.com
"every item drop was hand placed"? I'm guessing they're having fun by placing a staff (caster) and a bow (ranged) and watch us puzzled about which class stays and which not... Anyway, it pretty much confirms there will be a caster and a ranged class, even if we dont know anything specific.
as for the "biting the head off" ability, i think fatalities arent hard to implement at all. Especially since there arent any healers around, its not hard to have the program calculate killing blows and make them look as spectacular as we saw.
1) Venturing above ground will be very static but a richly painted canvas nevertheless. We will not get random areas like the Black Marsh or Cold Plains.
The randomness of the maps in D2 aids replayability. I take the point that quality graphics has won out over random tiles with the same edges in order to allow seamless joining. I am ambivalent here. Bring on the richly drawn maps. But how soon will these same maps begin to be repetitive when replaying?
2) Non-class specific armour. Some modifiers will be more useful for some classes (perhaps e.g. "+10 to mana") and some armour just won't make sense for some classes. So that hasn't changed. But this means we now won't get the Barb helms and the necro shrunken heads and the druid pelts.
Can anyone suggest why this has happened? What is the good of this?
------------------
I want to see heads getting ripped off and my character's arm getting ripped off and me having to limp back to town for repair to one leg and with a gaping hole in my abdomen. With a trail of blood in my wake too and some monster following behind, licking up my entrails....
Glad to hear that the disappearing path the barb had to leap/tele over was just an example of what is possible. Giving everyone teleport would suck.
*Out door areas will be mostly static, does not mean the whole world will be static and everything in it.
*There was no class specific armor in D2... everyone could wear any type of armor, it just looked different on the characters. It was noted previously by Bashiok that there would still be class specific weapons and such.
I am not too worried about the outside worlds being too static, I personally like the fact that a town will always be in the same place it makes more sense. That doesn't mean the landscape won't change. Its basically like it is now. The room with each boss is static but getting there might not be.
Where "something of interest" should be either a quest that tells a story, a new boss or good loots.
Incorrect. There was class specific in D2. Barb helms, Dru helms, Nec shields, and Pala shields.
I wouldn't be surprised if they bring back cs items and add more like helms for wd.
they said, there will be class specific offhand and mainhands...soo...you can take nec shields and pal shields off that list of yours, theyre only taking out the ugly druid helms and barb helms
My reason? well, imagine your walking around in the new D3 world of sanctuary, and lets say you just destroyed the monsters in "The den". And you want to help your friend do that in the next game. You get into that game, and you go to the same place the Den was last game, but its not there! The map is the same, but the content generated on it is different.
If this is the case, then I am perfectly fine with the outside world being static.
And it makes sense that the towns stay in the same area, why would a town up and move in a world, the developers are trying to make the game more immersive and are trying to make you feel a part of the world. Also in D2 towns never moved either.
Where there is truth, he must find.
Where there is destruction, he must rebuild.
Where there is love, he must protect."
World's Fair Exhibit
"God gave us memories, that in life's garden we may have June roses in December."
John Barrie
yeah, I agree with this approach. I hope its not like TQ though, I couldnt replay that game through again cause everything was the same.
Even though d2 areas aren't really that random or different when you look at it closely, the enemy placement was and the loot was, so it kind of tricks you into believing its more random than it really is since each trip through is different in one way or another.
A semi-static world with random boss mobs or some random questlines from time to time should still hold that replayability while giving an immersive overworld.
Please do your home work before you make a response, D2-LOD had class specific weapons aswell as Armors read up please.
I also hope the environment isnt static, im hoping none of the areas are thats what made titan quest boring for me knowing where to go to farm a boss for items.
Also i dont really like the Graphic detail of the environment looks like a painted picture to me probly just me but thats what im seeing, the 3d rendered characters look nice.
Character/ class wise im hoping there is a caster class, but from the looks of it NO NECROMANCER #@!$!@$$#!$!#@$#@$!#@$#@$!%$#@!@#$!#@$$, i love my necro :(.
P.s darker dungeons please :P.
I was hoping that the biting-head thing was an actual ability that the monster had. That is, he used it every so often and every so often it would succeed (with varying degrees of difficulty depending on player skills/items, etc.). Further, I was hoping that this would be despite health; that is, that it wouldn't just be an "end move".
I think allowing for some monsters to have this ability would definitely make the manner of attacking bosses much more tactical and interesting. In previous Diablo games, especially on harder levels, battles tended to either be of the toe-to-toe type where you just drank potions as fast as you could or the type where you were low on potions and the enemy around in a circle trying to get your one or two potshots off here or there. Group dynamics changes this a bit but, surprisingly, not too terribly much.
Whereas if I was assured that Diablo could grab me by the throat and spit flames on my face, reducing my manly visage to nothing but a charred skull, and he could do this at any time, you bet your butt that last battle wouldn't just b a "smash and heal" extravaganza.
What your forgetting is that in D2, you just had dirt, grass, water, the odd tree (except for the jungle) and everything could be placed pretty much everywhere.
Now, with 3D, you need much more detail in everything, and if you want something to look good with detail, and play good, you're going to need to script it in some way, and not be completely random.
I'm sure they said stuff about random quests/adventures that would take place, and semi-random/random interiors would make this extremely usefull.