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In the recent interview with Diablo3.CC, it was discussed that Bind on Equip (BoE) items have been removed from the game. Originally, this type of item was added as a way to help remove items from the limitless economy. In Diablo II, a mass of any item, no matter how rare, could and would end up piling up as millions of players collected these items. Over time, it was inevitable that these items would amass and become common place in the economy. In order to correct this problem, ladder resets were used to help "dump" the economy and start back from zero. Occurring periodically, the ladder resets would erase all of the hard work and time put into the game to obtain these items. Blizzard has admitted that this was not the best way to handle this situation and definitely wanted to find another solution to the problem that a loot heavy game like Diablo creates.

This brings us to the BoE items. BoE are items that became permanently attached to that character. When you would un-equip the item, you are not allowed to trade it to another player for them to equip. If no longer needed, the only thing to do with it was to sell it to a vendor, essentially removing it from the economy. To not completely discourage players, it was said that in Diablo III, the BoE items actually bound themselves to your account so you could still equip it with other characters on your account. However, even with this advantage, many people still did not like the system. Whether it was because it discourages the item trading that is iconic of Diablo or because it was too similar to another game (I won't mention the name), not everyone was happy with this decision. Luckily for those people, Blizzard has, through their countless hours of iteration, decided that they to did not like this solution.

As it stands now, BoE is officially gone from the game. Instead of using this system as a way to remove items, Blizzard has decided that their salvaging and crafting system is going to be much more effective in controlling the amount of items that remain in the game. As stated in the quote, in order to craft high-level items, similar items will be needed to salvage for the materials. So, if a player wants to craft an legendary sword for their Barbarian, then they may have to salvage one or two (just a guess for the example) other legendary items to get the one item they need. This will effectively remove some of these items from the game and, in addition, allow the player to create an item that he can use from these unneeded items.

Another tool they plan on using to help control the economy is through patching of the game. As Bashiok stated, if the desired and horded item that players want is constantly changing, then players are less likely to amass these items. Through patching, they can continuously add new items to the game so that players constantly have a new goal for end-game gear and this will help items from getting stagnant and building up through the years. Whether or not you were happy with BoE, it's nice to see that Blizzard is constantly testing, iterating, and changing the game to make sure that everything works best for Diablo III.

Moving on from BoE items, Bashiok also clarified some information about how set items will work. Just a little bit ago, we had gotten information that how set items were being implemented was still a work in progress. We even held a poll to see what you guys thought about set items and how you would like them to function. It seems that they have finally decided on how they wanted to implement the items (Sign of Beta).

Surprisingly, or maybe not so, it seems that they have gone with a combination of the two poll options that you guys decided upon was the best solution. While leveling in the game, set items will be able to be crafted through the drops of a recipe. Once obtaining this one recipe, it will unlock the ability to craft an entire set of items. However, it is important to note that you will still need to gain enough materials to craft each individual item through salvaging other items. Oddly, this idea of crafting items was never something mentioned by Blizzard and was only added to DiabloFans' poll because of the idea from Junction3 while I was creating this poll. This is not to say the idea was not tossed around internally long ago, but it's nice to see that our opinion (according to the poll) is an idea that has made it's way into the game.

The second way to obtain set items will be through end-game loot drops. Actual set items will still be dropping in the later levels of the game for players to collect to create their full sets. This adds yet one more goal to complete at end-game, which they apparently still have plans for, so that we still have something to do after completing the game on Hell difficulty. It is important to note though that these set items will be dropping in addition to the crafting recipes so there will still be two ways to help complete a set for your character.

Now for those of you concerned about this increase of importance on crafting, not every item you will have on your character at end-game will all be obtained through crafting. Diablo has been and remains to be a game that is based on gearing your character through random loot drops. As Bashiok states, their plan is to have a well-rounded collection of item types that will be useful for your character.



Thanks to Cherubdown for bringing this Bashiok quote to my attention. If anyone finds any Diablo related news, you can always PM myself or anyone else on the news team with the info. It is always appreciated.

There has been very little information about Hirelings in Diablo III. Unfortunately, there has not been much change on this front. From what we know, in the first gameplay video, there were some archers you ran into while on a quest to rescue Deckard Cain. These archers would follow you for a short while fighting monsters until they would meet their own demise. These mercenaries were never meant to follow you for a long time and would only help you through a quest. We saw this again in the Demon Hunter gameplay video when a weapon maker needs your help. These NPC's are just to help you through a quest temporarily.

In addition to these characters, many have wondered how the hirelings, as know of them from Diablo II, will work in Diablo III. There was actually an interview with Leonard Boyarsky back in 2009 where he touched upon the subject. In the interview, he is asked about mercenaries returning in Diablo III. He first talks about the temporary mercenaries from the gameplay trailer as a smaller version of the followers. He then expands upon the newer version of the "Followers" as they are now known as.

While this interview is over two years old at this point, no other information has been given about the system. Many people even believed that they will not add in this feature or that the mechanic got scrapped. With the recent announcement that all systems will be announced before the beta, the question was brought up again about these followers.

While I will admit that this gives us no new information on the system, it does tell us that it is still a system they have planned. When they will share it with us is still unknown however. So the big question still remains and is up for debate; In what form will these followers take? Will they have skills you can choose? How much item customization will there be? How many different types are there? Hopefully we will find out all of these answers Soon™.

Blizzard has just released their thirteenth batch of screenshots (see here if you missed the twelfth) for hitting the 850k 'Like' mark. Once again, we've got the high resolution versions at our disposal here on DiabloFans.

The first image is a concept piece of the Guards of Caldeum. Caldeum will be in Act II of the game and lies in the deserts of Kehjistan. As far as the lore goes for this city, it was once the main trading center for most of Sanctuary. After the corruption of the Kurast, many people fled to Caldeum which caused a revolt in the once peaceful city. After their Emperor died, the city went to ruins. Interestingly, the Zakarum, the order of the Paladin from Diablo II, has had a reemergence in this city. This should be an interesting place to visit.



The second image is a screnshot of the Arena. We can see a 3v3 team dueling it out. On the Blue team are two http://diablowiki.com/Barbarians" class="wiki-link">http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/16/736/wiki2.gif" alt="DiabloWiki.com - Barbarians"/> Barbarians. The one at the top is using Ignore Pain which adds the look of shields floating around him. The Red team is comprised of a male and female Witch Doctor and a male Wizard. The Witch Doctor has his http://diablowiki.com/Zombie Dogs" class="wiki-link">http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/16/736/wiki2.gif" alt="DiabloWiki.com - Zombie Dogs"/> Zombie Dogs out with a Runestone that is making them fire imbued.



Click the images to bask in the glory of the high resolution versions that you likely won't see anywhere else! 25,000 more likes to go until the 875k mark where we can get some more images, and 6 more milestones until we hit the 1 million 'Like' goal. Go visit facebook.com/Diablo and 'Like' the page to speed the war effort!

And, in case you were wondering what will happen when we get to this 1,000,000 likes goal, Bashiok gave us just a small little hint. No, it will not be beta announcement but it will be some cool visuals.

As I am sure that all of you are waiting for that wonderful day when you open up DiabloFans and read "Beta has started", any news of this date is something we would all love to know. Unfortunately, that date is still unknown. However, Bashiok has given just one more insight to when this day may come. A user of on Battle.net asked about the areas that each Act will cover and what more can we look forward to seeing.
This quote actually gives us a lot of information. First, we already know that Act 1 will be in New Tristram and Tristram Cathedral. Numerous videos and pictures have highlighted this area. Act 2 will include a desert type environment with areas like Caldeum and Alcarnus. The only part we know of Act 3 is Bastion's Keep as it is the only area not tied to the first two Acts. So, even with beta's release, we will not being seeing anything more of the areas, especially where Act 4 will take us.

Moving onto the next subject at hand, Bashiok mentioned that all of the game systems will be announced before beta starts. The only system we know we are waiting to hear about is the trading system that we will use in Diablo III. There is also no information out yet about how Diablo III will use Battle.net 2.0 and what features that will bring. Any other systems they have in store for us remain a mystery at this point. The real question is though, how and when will they be sharing these last bits of info before we get into beta? With an unknown amount of information to share, this unfortunately gives us no real time frame on beta's release.

The last part from the quote gives us a little bit of information on what will be included in beta. According to Bashiok, it definitely will not be the entire game, although most of us already suspected that. It seems as though the beta will be limited to some previously seen dungeons and areas from videos and screen shots that they have already released. Perhaps a run through of Act 1 and part of Act 2 with major spoilers being edited out. This could be possible since the three artisans are supposed to be gained through about this same amount of gameplay. However, it won't be until we all have our hands on this game that we find out just how this epic trilogy ends (until the first expansion pack comes out).

With no real information on when the beta starts yet, stay tuned as we will share any and all information that comes out regarding beta. As of right now, the only event we know something will be talked about in regards to beta will be the May 9th conference call where Mike Morhaime promised to talk about it.

UPDATE: I asked Bashiok if they had plans on how and when they are going to announce these remaining systems.
It appears as though Blizzard knows exactly what they will be doing up until beta and more importantly, when they plan on starting beta.

There has been a lot of debate spurred on by the fact that Diablo III will have a static world. What does this mean? This means that when you play Diablo III, the borders to the world you move around in will always be the same. The same path will be taken to get to the city that is always in the same location. This was not the case in Diablo II. Players spent ample amounts of time, walking along the borders of each area trying to find the entrance to the next area. Even base camps like the Rogue Encampment would have a changing exit.

There has been numerous reason given as to why Diablo III has chosen to do this. The first one being that they can increase the quality of these environments by not having to structure and design them in a way that lent itself to randomization. Another reason was that it gave it more of a real-world sense because we all know cities don't just move to random locations in the real world. Bashiok has given us a few more reasons for this decision:

Now, with all that said, the most important thing to remember is that not every area of the map is static, mostly just the borders. Within these borders are areas, ranging from small to very large, that will be randomized every time you play through the game. These areas are not just randomized monsters, as monsters will always be randomized in all areas of the maps. These random pockets can produce rare chests, dungeons and quests.

As if this randomization was not enough, Diablo III will still have completely random dungeons like they did in Diablo II. Every time your character enters into the depths of Sanctuary, you will encounter different rooms and combinations of pathways. But to even add randomization to these randomized dungeons, some of the rooms will even have these pockets of randomized events that will offer even more variety in the countless amounts of playthroughs.

Whether or not you agree with the static world in Diablo III, it is clear that every time you play Diablo III, it will not be the same occurrences you ran into the first one hundred times you played the game.

There seems to be a lot of information on the Blacksmith Artisan. We know how we will meet him and what services he will provide. With the use of the salvage cube, we know that we will break down weapons and armor to get materials for the Blacksmith to create new items. Through leveling and found recipes, the Blacksmith will be able to create better and better gear for you character. All of this we have known since their announcement back at the 2010 Gamescom.

While we know all of this about the Blacksmith, we know very little of the Mystic and Jeweler. We do know that the Mystic will offer us a wide variety of magical services. Between potions, scrolls, magical weapons, charms, and skillrunes the Mystic will cover all of you magical needs. The Jeweler will offer his services in rings, amulets, and gems by upgrading and switching them out of your gear. Unfortunately, that is all we know of these two other artisans. Many questions remain like what will the Artisans need to craft their items? and where will we get these materials?


I recently asked Bashiok on the matter to get some answers.

With crafting being a gold sink in Diablo III, the artisans will require gold for almost all of their services. However, it seems as though the salvage cube will be used for more than just breaking down weapons and armor for the Blacksmith. As Bashiok noted, salvaging will be the focus for most crafting. With the Mysitc, it's possible that staffs and wands can be broken down for magical resources that will be used to craft these same particular types of items. If a charm is found with unwanted attributes, they may be able to be broken down to create new charms with different attributes. Even unwanted skillrunes may be salvaged into another resource type that the Mystic can use to create new skillrunes. This idea was hinted upon when Blizzard mentioned you would be ale to "combine" skillrunes to create new ones, helping you to create skillrunes that you find more useful for your character build.

It can also be assumed that the Jeweler functions in a similar manner. Rather than selling unused rings and amulets, you can salvage them for materials to create new ones. This was actually something we saw in Diablo II with the Horadric Cube. You were able to transmute three rings into one new amulet and vice versa. Again, this illustrates how the team is using this new crafting system to replace the cube of Diablo II. It still remains unknown, however, if the same mechanic will be used on gems as well. While upgrading will need multiple gems of the same type, it may be possible to salvage unused gems for materials to create rings and amulets as well.



While much of this still remains a mystery, it appears that the team is staying tight lipped on one more aspect of the artisans.
We know that all of the Artisans can be leveled up, but just what does this do for us. Most likely, only high level Artisans will be able to craft high level items. Specialization is something we have known for the Blacksmith; focusing your Artisan on axes, swords, or maces depending on your character build. What will the specializations be for the Mystic and Jeweler?

UPDATE:

Bashiok has given us a little more infromation on combining gems. It seems that now, there will be more than just the first five levels dropping so you will not be needing 100,000 level five gems to get to that fourteenth level. Along with this, an easier trade system seems to be another way to help players sell and trade for gems.

We all learned about the caravan concept back at the 2010 Gamescom last year. This caravan would be a group of NPC's that would follow your character around and offer you different services. Deckard Cain and Leah will be a part of this band as well as the three Artisans we have learned about. While these Artisans filled various roles, Blizzard apparently felt a few more were needed. The development team has announced two more Artisans to join the line-up that will each offer their own unique services.

The Cobbler

The Cobbler, who is almost as old as Deckard Cain, will be following you around Sanctuary on your journey. Adding sole to your adventure, the Cobbler will focus primarily on all equipment related to your feet. From repairing your current boots to selling you new ones and crafting special boots this Artisan will focus solely on this one area of equipment more-so than the Blacksmith will. One example of this idea is through one of the many services the Cobbler offers: the Stamina and Run/Walk System, which will be returning to this latest game of the franchise. The Cobbler will be able to alter your shoes to increase both the stamina and run speed of your character, adding yet one more viable gold sink to the game. It is unknown just yet how much of an effect it will have but it will most likely be a required upgrade for PvP and the arena.


You will gain this Artisan through the quest Frail Pools. This quest will lead you through some poisonous pools where the feeble old man needs your help. Being partially senile, the Cobbler has mixed up his thoughts and has gotten lost; finding himself in a mess of trouble as demons encroach on his location. After saving the old man and bringing him back to town and safety, he will offer his services to you.

When asked why these features were not just added to the Blacksmith's services, Blizzard responded:

Official Blizzard Quote:

While it is possible that we could have added these services to the Blacksmith, we wanted to keep a clear focus of each artisan. The Blacksmith will be focusing on forging and socketing your armor. The cobbler will be focusing on just boots. The reason for this is that we have added another mechanic to Diablo 3. In order to enhance the environment even more, we have added a system where the environment will interact with your character. If you are on ice, your character will slip around, if you are in a swamp your movements will be sluggish. The cobbler will offer services to help counter these effects.

As mentioned in the quote, the environment of each Act will now affect how you move around in the world. We have been given a few examples of these Terrain effects:

• Rainy Fields - Character will slip and have a higher chance to miss attacks.
• Sinking Sands - Characters will be pulled in with the moving sands.
• Ice - Characters may fall and be vulnerable to attack for a short period of time.
• Swamps - Characters movement and attack speed are slowed.
• Lava - Characters will take continuous damage while standing in the lava.

The Cobblers shop will reflect his foot fetish. We have been given a picture of a mid-grade Cobbler' shop, as seen above. It was said that he will start off with his shop looking more like a sandal and as he progresses, his shop will change to a a more durable and fitting type of shoe. They hinted that the last version would be a metallic boot with all sorts of sharp spikes and no laces to trip on.

The Bard

The Bard will be the fifth Artisan joining you on your mission. Offering inspiration in the form of music, the Bard will not only play music for you but teach you how to play it yourself. You will learn to play new and more complicated songs through scrolls you will find while venturing into the various caves and dungeons your path will take you. After getting these drops, you can simply take them back to the Bard and he will teach you how to play the song. The effects of these songs vary and, as your skill with a given instrument increases, your songs will become stronger, but also longer and more complex. To play a song, players will press a key to ready their instrument while still battling the foes of Hell. Following a string of commands consisting of the up, down, left, and right arrows a pattern will be needed to execute the song.


You will meet this whimsical character through the quest called Aid Fops O'Rally. In this quest, you find O'Rally trying his best to serenade a group of Goatman. Unfortunately he appears to be flopping and the monsters are quickly turning on him. After mowing through the dozens of beasts, the Bard will follow you back to town. After coming to terms with the fact that his music alone is not enough to stop these monstrosities, the Bard will offer to teach you how to play various songs to add to your physical and magical arsenal.

Official Blizzard Quote:

Originally we had wanted to add the Bard as a playable class, it was one of the many ideas that we had tossed around. We even got as far as getting him in-game and were working on his skills. However, once we matched him up with the other classes, we felt he just didn't fit in with the environment we wanted for D3. We tried axe guitars, dagger flutes, and mace-like drum sticks, but none of them felt right. Let's face it, slicing off a demons head is just cooler than playing them a song, no matter how hard you shred.

We still really liked the concept though so we decided to make him an artisan instead. Players will be able to seamlessly switch from fighting to playing a quick song without having to change any gear or skills. This way, players can still blow things up and can use this mechanic to help them in their fights instead of lead them.

The Bard will offer to teach you how to play songs on three different instruments; each instrument will have a different overall effect. With each type of instrument needing to be leveled separately, most players will be choosing the one that will fit their build the best, adding one more way to help customize their characters.

• Drums: All drum songs will focus on fortifying your character and party. From raising your defense to increasing your HP, these songs will help you stay alive. A likely choice for those venturing into Hardcore.
• Lutes: Lutes will improve your killing ability. Both physical and magical attacks will be bolstered by shredding out a tasty lick on your lute. Speed, damage, and accuracy can be improved.
• Flutes: Songs played on your flute will focus more on passive bonuses to your skills and debuffing monsters. Despite being among the daintiest of instruments, these flutes can help turn the tide of battle by lulling your enemies to sleep or decreasing the cost of your skills.

Pictured above is a screen shot of the Witch Doctor using a flute to play the lullaby song. The song has put the monsters ahead of him asleep, rendering them defenseless against the mongrels' attacks. You can see that the song that will pop-up on your screen after hitting the "M" key. Pressing the arrow keys in the correct order will execute the song. As mentioned, the greater the effect of the song, the more difficult the song will be to play. To make sure that it does not interrupt combat, no skill or instrument needs to be equipped. The player can quickly play the song and go right back to blasting their enemies.

Disclaimer: DiabloFans' Rumors are not the officially recognized positions of the staff, management, and/or administration of DiabloFans.

With Diablo II, set items had a somewhat lackluster role in gearing. While leveling up, finding a piece of a set was fairly common. However, being able to obtain an entire set was much rarer, at least while the gear was still viable. Unless twinking lower level characters or wearing the few end-game sets, these particular types of items just never played that big of a role in the itemization of Diablo.

With Diablo III, the development team is attempting to fix the issues from Diablo II to make set items more viable. However, we recently found out that they are still continuing to have issues with implementing this system.

Official Blizzard Quote:

ScyberDragon: @Diablo How are set items working?

Diablo: @Scyberdragon You are just all about set items all the time! They're not, yet.

The developers of Diablo III are aware of the flaws of the mechanic and are working on multiple ideas to help fix the problems that set items have. A number of options have been presented to make set items more possible in the gearing of your character but each one has its own pros and cons.


The exact same as Diablo II: There is always the possibility that set items system will work the same way as it did in Diablo II. With a more accessible trade system, the possibility of completing a whole set while the gear is still viable could be much more likely.

Multiple items per slot: Another idea that has been tossed around is the possibility that each slot of a set could have multiple items that would complete that set. For example, a set may have three different chest pieces, all which would count towards completing the same set. This would allow for a wider variety of set items to drop and increase the possibility of completing a whole set.

Scalable with character level: If set items were to increase in stats with your character level, this could help your ability to find a whole set while the gear is still viable for your character. If you found one piece at level 10 and the next at level 15, as long as the gear scaled, you could still wear the whole set once found. However, a cap to this scale would have to be added to stop the need of only one set of gear for your character from level 1 -60.

Craftable set items: Crafting was added as a way to help compensate your character with gear that just happens to not drop for you. Set items could benefit greatly from this idea. Getting one piece of a set and never getting the rest negates the set item all together. There was also times where you would get one piece from one set and another piece from a different set. If you were able to salvage set items for materials to make items of a different set, this could help players control the ability to obtain a full set.

End-Game only sets: As noted earlier, most actual usage of set items in Diablo II were the few viable end-game sets. According to the most recent information, the possibility of set items in Diablo III being only end-game items is a strong possibility. This would also help lend just one more objective to do after hitting the level cap and needing more goals for your character to obtain.

No set items: There is always the possibility of set items being removed from Diablo III. Blizzard has stated that if they cannot find a system they like, they would remove it all together. Perhaps set items just are not viable in the loot heavy, randomization of Diablo.

So, when all is said and done, Diablo III has a wide variety of ways to add set items and make them usable. How would you like to see the system make a come back?

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The results of last weeks poll was a bit one-sided. When asked what limitations there should be withe swapping of skills runes, over 50% of the voters thought the best way was to have the Mystic be the only way to swap them. Every time you visited the Artisan, you would get the opportunity to switch out these runes. The only other option that got a sizeable amount of votes was the option of being able to switch them out yourself as long as you were outside of combat. Increasing the frequency and availability to swap and experiment with different runes. If you would still like to voice your opinion on this topic, you can go here to vote.

As with any product, video games take time and money to develop. Sometimes developers have grand ideas on how to make their game shine. Unfortunately, due to financial and time constraints, not all of their dreams can come to fruition. Diablo II is no exception. There were probably dozens of ideas that just never made it off of the drawing board for one reason or another. However, while many of these things may have been cut from the original release, expansions packs offer developers a chance to bring some of these ideas back and even possibly add a few new ideas. With Lord of Destruction (LoD), a fifth Act was added that offered a variety of many new mechanics and design to the game. Many of these ideas helped bring depth and more variety to Diablo.

The aim of this article is to not only highlight some of these changes, but most importantly, make notice of these features' influence on Diablo III. Many of the changes added to Act V of Diablo II can be seen in Diablo III. Having more time and money for this project, they were able to apply many of these changes to the whole game and even develop the ideas even further in many cases.

Starting off, there was some graphical advancement in Diablo II. In Act V, our heroes are taken to Harrogath where they will venture up Mt. Arreat to defeat Baal. In order to give this environment a look of grandeur and height, backgrounds were greatly improved upon. While standing on the mountain side, you could see villages and other peaks below you (pictured below on the left). This small but important detail helped add depth to the environment compared to the closed of dungeons and walls surrounding the previous areas.

With Diablo III, they have taken this idea and expanded upon it. Dungeon areas have been shown with multiple layers of depth to them. In the backgrounds players can see other floors, doorways, and other miscellaneous objects to help bring life to these concealed areas. Taking the idea even further, in Diablo III monsters will even interact with these backgrounds. Emerging from the depths of the dungeon, we have seen http://diablowiki.com/Ghouls" class="wiki-link">http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/16/736/wiki2.gif" alt="DiabloWiki.com - Ghouls"/> Ghouls crawling up these walls to attack our brave fighters (pictured above on the right). Even the foreground has become fair game for monsters to reside and attack you at their will. It is clear to see just how much depth is actually added by using this concept from Diablo II and taking it even further.

Another subtle feature that was added in LoD was the addition of breakable environments. Diablo II always had the numerous amounts of barrels and urns to break open but none of these were really part of the actual level. They were added into them to give players just one more chance to get some loot. However, in Act V, there were walls, doors, catapults, and towers added that could be destroyed. Not really monsters or random barrels, these objects included an element that helped add a perception of power to your character as you were actually able to break your surroundings with your skills. Sometimes it was even necessary, as a breakable wall would separate you from the other side of your destination.

With Diablo III, a multitude of breakable environments have been added. As seen in the first game play demo, almost every piece of furniture and decor is destructible, reflecting the pure power of your hero. There are also doors that cannot simply be clicked to open. Like the walls that closed off your hero from Diablo II, these doors can only be opened by smashing them into tiny pieces. In addition to destroying this environment, players can now take advantage of their surroundings. Crumbling walls, dangling chandeliers, swing axes, and numerous environmental additions have been made to smack down the monsters you battle against. A simple swing of an axe or blast of arcane power will send the environment crumbling around you and damaging all those in its path.

The next idea that was added to Diablo II through LoD was monsters with multiple stages. Some came in the form of http://diablowiki.com/Demon Imps" class="wiki-link">http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/16/736/wiki2.gif" alt="DiabloWiki.com - Demon Imps"/> Demon Imps jumping up and using either towers or http://diablowiki.com/Siege Beasts" class="wiki-link">http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/16/736/wiki2.gif" alt="DiabloWiki.com - Siege Beasts"/> Siege Beasts to do additional damage. After destroying their leverage, the player would still have to fight the imp itself. There were also the http://diablowiki.com/Putrid Defilers" class="wiki-link">http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/16/736/wiki2.gif" alt="DiabloWiki.com - Putrid Defilers"/> Putrid Defilers that would release parasitic worms into other monsters, adding another stage of fighting before these monsters would fall to the ground. These ideas helped to add more challenges to the fight and more depth to the monsters.


We have seen this influence in Diablo III as well. The first example was seen in the original game play trailer. http://diablowiki.com/Zombies" class="wiki-link">http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/16/736/wiki2.gif" alt="DiabloWiki.com - Zombies"/> Zombies had a chance to have their legs ripped from their torso. However, this is not always enough to kill. Some of them will continue to crawl their way towards you, relentlessly attacking you with the body parts they still have remaining. The Thousand Pounder was also shown with two stages. After taking so much damage, the brute would begin to glow and change his fighting technique. It has also been stated that many bosses would follow this mechanic and have multiple stages, each would bring a change to the battle. With the Hack N' Slash mentality of this game, adding some unique twists to the monsters will help add variety to these numerous foes.

Another influence that made its way into the expansion was the ideas of followers. With the original Diablo II, the only additional aid we would receive from the townsfolk, excluding hirelings, would be Flavie, who remained stationary and fired at monsters that strayed too near. The rest of the monster slaying was left up to you while the citizens sat calmly in their cozy towns. With the addition of LoD this would all change. At the beginning of the Act, brave Barbarian citizens of Mt. Arreat would join you in your battle. Covering the battlefield, players would watch as the brutish forces would take down many demons on their own.

Diablo III has adopted this idea of others aiding in the fight against Hell. While venturing into random dungeons, your hero may happen upon other brave fighters. After interacting with these people, they will follow you to their death in your fight. An example of this can be seen, once again, in the first game play video where the archers protecting Cain follow you through the dungeon until they met their ultimate demise. More of the followers have been promised to aid you like the weapon smith we saw in the Demon hunter video. While we do not know if hirelings will make a return, we do know that you will not be fighting the Denizens of Hell by yourself.

The last idea that was added to Diablo II was in the form of a quest. The Rite of Passage was a very unique quest that came towards the end of LoD. What made this quest so unique was that it was the first and only fight in the game where the player could not use Town Portals (TP) to escape death and refill their potions and come back to finish the battle. If a player used a TP to leave the area, the three Ancients would be reset and regain full life. This added, perhaps, the only change to the fighting design of Diablo II. With any other challenge, the player could quickly and easily leave the fight to regain their vigor. This quest made the fight a true fight to the finish without any chance of escape.

Diablo III has not only taken this idea for a few fights but has adopted the mechanic for the entire game. Town Portals have been officially removed from the game. Realizing the added challenge and immersion this previous quest offered, the developers deiced to add this challenge to every fight. Adding more mechanics to allow for this, players will only be stopping at town at the occasional waypoint. Boss fights will become more challenging and require some skill and technique to best these monsters while preserving your own life.



With LoD, many new ideas emerged to help make the game more fun. Taking simple ideas and using them to add depth, the last Act of Diablo introduced many unique experiences to the game play. Diablo III has taken these ideas and expanded upon them to add the same level of depth and increase the fun while playing the game. What other features that we glimpsed in LoD will we see in Diablo III?

Blizzard has just released their seventh batch of screenshots (see here if you missed the sixth) for hitting the 700k 'Like' mark. Once again, we've got the high resolution versions at our disposal here on DiabloFans.

Click the images to bask in the glory of the high resolution versions that you likely won't see anywhere else!

The first image is a concept drawing of the Tomb Viper. While we have seen this picture before, this is a very high resolution version of the art piece. The tomb vipers have been shown to appear in Act II during the Monk's game play footage. The tomb vipers we've seen in game play videos so far have had the distinguishing feature that they're nigh invisible (a faint cloud of dust) until close to the player.




The second picture is a screenshot from the Arena. We can see the Red team composed of a Barbarian and Wizard are in hot pursuit of the Blue team. Not to take this beating lying down, the Barbarian on the other team is chasing down the foe attacking his Witch Doctor team mate who has unleashed his http://diablowiki.com/Fire Bomb" class="wiki-link">http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/16/736/wiki2.gif" alt="DiabloWiki.com - Fire Bomb"/> Fire Bomb.



25,000 more likes to go until the 725k mark where we can get some more images, and 12 more milestones until we hit the 1 million 'Like' goal. Go visit facebook.com/Diablo and 'Like' the page to speed the war effort!

Blizzard has just released their sixth batch of screenshots (see here if you missed the fifth) for hitting the 675k 'Like' mark. Once again, we've got the high resolution versions at our disposal here on DiabloFans.

Click the images to bask in the glory of the high resolution versions that you likely won't see anywhere else!

The first image is a concept drawing of the http://diablowiki.com/Wizard's" class="wiki-link">http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/16/736/wiki2.gif" alt="DiabloWiki.com - Wizard's"/> Wizard's skill Hydra. Based on the same skill from Diablo II, the Hydra erupts from the ground spitting fiery balls at your opponents. We also know that the Hydra will change not only the damage type it uses but even how it fires its attack; ranging from a cone to an AoE when different Runestones are inserted into the skill.




The second picture is a screenshot from the same demo area that was available at the 2010 Blizzcon. The Halls of Agony sets a darker tone with fire, cages, torturing devices and chains littering the scene. The male Wizard is fighting off some http://diablowiki.com/Dark Vessels" class="wiki-link">http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/16/736/wiki2.gif" alt="DiabloWiki.com - Dark Vessels"/> Dark Vessels. An http://diablowiki.com/Arcane Orb" class="wiki-link">http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/16/736/wiki2.gif" alt="DiabloWiki.com - Arcane Orb"/> Arcane Orb flies through the air hoping to end their demonic lives.




25,000 more likes to go until the 700k mark where we can get some more images, and 13 more milestones until we hit the 1 million 'Like' goal. Go visit facebook.com/Diablo and 'Like' the page to speed the war effort!

UPDATE: Bashy has recently mentioned a new tidbit on PvP play...

@Diablo Will there be some kind of spectate-mode for PvP Arenas?

Official Blizzard Quote:

Diablo: @elrufa It's a wish list item, same as replays.

What this means can be potentially huge for people such as our very own Force, who want to take part in D3 Arena casting and things of that nature. Aside from the casting aspect, the ability to save replays means that people will be able to save and load matches at a whim, to study what opponents may have done, take a look at where they may have gone wrong, or simply just show off their epic battle to some friends. As far as spectating goes, people can have tournaments with observers, players can coach each other, the possibilities with these two simply functions are "game changers" for those of us who want to make this games PvP mainstream.

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PvP is an integral part to the Diablo community. Many claim it is because of PvP that the popularity of Diablo II has remained so high for this long. Ironically, the PvP system in Diablo II was minimalist at best. A simple enter game, go hostile, and attack was all there was to dueling. Many speculated on what form PvP would take to improve this system including the avoidance for griefing it allowed. Diablo III aims to fix this by bringing the Battle Arena to the franchise. We first learned about this system last year at Blizzcon when they announced the system. While the basics of the system were shared, they left much to the imaginations of the people eager to play Diablo III. One of the biggest things the team has constantly reiterated was that balancing PvP for Diablo was not of the highest priorities. This push to inform people of this idea has not stopped. Recently on Battle.net, a user brought up the concern once again. Bashiok's response:

Official Blizzard Quote:

We intend to get PvP as balanced as we can, because we want it to be fun and have some meaning to it. But, PvP balance is not an integral goal to releasing the game. We want PvP to be fun, not necessarily balanced to a razors edge. With the huge number of combinations per character compounded by team comps, balance is not going to be something we'd hold the game for. If we did it might never come out. It will be balanced as much as we realistically can expect before releasing the game, and we'll certainly continue to make changes to try to keep it fun and interesting.

More specifically, the idea was brought up that certain classes might have an advantage over other classes. A lot of this can be found in WoW where certain classes tend to have a distinct advantage over another. Creating arena teams of certain classes becomes a delicate balance to gain an advantage over your opposing team. Bashiok first cleared up that with a 3v3 match, there range of skills and builds will make it almost impossible to create a "dream team". While at low levels, there may be some distinct advantages and disadvantages, but once leveled up, the variety of possible builds will allow any team to customize just how they fight and defend in the arena. A wide range of skills will help any team overcome any possible disadvantage to a differing team build. Speaking specifically for 1v1's, Bashiok said:

Official Blizzard Quote:

Hard counters only exist in 1v1. Obviously there will be some group comp that's considered 'best'. That has nothing to do with designing or not designing classes for rock paper scissors. .

So, while balancing PvP is not the highest priority and most importantly won't delay the game's release, that does not mean that they are not trying to make Battle Arenas as fun and fair as possible for everyone playing. Player skill will be important to balance with gear and build choices to help create a team that can handle any situation.

There was some more information revealing some plans for PvP in the future. As of right now, the only PvP matches that exist are straight Death Matches where players run at each other with all they got in hopes to not die first. When asked at the 2010 Blizzcon, it appeared that this was all that was planned for PvP in Diablo III. However, it may not always be this way. It seems that the Diablo team is having thoughts about expanding on PvP and may do so in the future.

Official Blizzard Quote:

We're currently focusing entirely on the team deathmatch arenas, as well as the potential for custom arena games. But we have had a number of PvP mode ideas and plans over the years, and it's possible we may revisit them in the future.

While it is unknown whether or not they plan on implementing some of these other ideas before release, those who are looking for something more than a straight duel-to-the-death can still have something to look forward to in regards to PvP.

Another important question was asked and answered about PvP. When playing the regular game, players will be able to resurrect team members to help bring them back into the action quickly. The question was raised if the same mechanic would be available in the arena. We have all seen in the demos that when you died you turned into a ghost that could traverse the arena and watch as the rest of your team battled it out. However, with the resurgence of this resurrection mechanic, people wondered whether or not we would be able to do this in PvP as well.

Official Blizzard Quote:

@Diablo - Will you be allowed to resurrect your team mate in Arenas? If not, are resurrection potions still in the game for regular play?

Diablo: @NocturneGS Once you're dead in the Arena you have to wait until the next round.

In case this wasn't enough to fill your PvP need, G4tv recently posted a new article and video with some exclusive footage of some PvP. Feel free to head over and check out what they thought about their hands-on experience with the new PvP system.

The biggest news concerning Diablo in the beginning of this call wass the fact that any revenue that is projected from its release has been left out of their 2011 financial plans.



Now, this does not guarantee that Blizzard will not be releasing Diablo this year. What it means is that they are not sure if it will be and therefore, do not want to include it in their current financial plans. They did say, however, that "if a title is not released this year, that they would be releasing two titles in 2012".

Separately, someone asked why no revenue from Diablo was included. The response was basically that it is still unknown on its release date.

After the initial information, Mike Morhaime spoke about Blizzard specifically. He stated that they were very excited about Diablo III and that development continues to move forward. Unfortunately, we did not get anything specific about any dates or its progress. However, more information about Diablo III and its beta will be discussed at the next conference call in May.

Mike Morhaime also answered a question about Diablo's progress and a possible release date. His response was that they were still very excited about Diablo. The reason for the mystery behind any dates is that they are waiting for initial responses from Beta before they announce any dates. Basically, if beta goes well, it would push their plans forward and if there were multiple things they want to change, it would push the date back.

On a more speculative conclusion of this, a summer beta would be logical given that it will be talked about in the next conference call. June 28th continues to be an important date for Diablo and may follow this trend with a possible Beta start date. This would put a six month Beta finishing at the end of the year in December. This late date may be why they did not include Diablo in their financial plan for this year. The success or issues with Beta may make this date very tangible for this year or the next. Again, they did not say that Diablo will not be released this year. However, an early 2012 release is now looking more realistic according to this new information.

We can all look forward, from this point, to the next conference call in May when a date for Beta should be announced giving us a more accurate guess of the release date.

*update*


What Bashiok is telling us is that we shouldn't rule out a 2011 release, but we shouldn't be too excited about having the game this year either.

There was a recent conversation on Battle.net where people worried about mismatching armor and everyone looking the same. Bashiok had a few words to comment about these ideas. First was with the subject of mismatching armor looks. Whether it be from wearing various armor types or that one strange off-colored piece, Diablo II had characters constantly walking around looking like they got dressed in the dark. With Diablo III, the aim is to get pieces to be more cohesive with one another so nothing stands out as particularly odd-looking.

Official Blizzard Quote:

That's not a feature or desired feature. I think what was being said was that applying color shades to items and making them a mess of bright purple or bright green is not very visually appealing, and so we'd like to avoid that. And we have, we do have dyes which alter gear color, but it's allowed in very measured and specifically tailored ways so that it doesn't look so garish.

As mentioned by Bashiok, the http://diablowiki.com/dye system" class="wiki-link">http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/16/736/wiki2.gif" alt="DiabloWiki.com - dye system"/> dye system will be invaluable to helping players create a cohesive look to their armor. The team has designed these dyes to be used on items, but not necessarily overwhelm the look of the character. An example can be seen below on the various colors and particular coloring of these dyes.

Beyond this matching of armor, people commented on how many varieties of looks there will be, for fear of everyone looking the exact same at high-end levels. Blizzard has mentioned a few times that their plan is to involve multiple types of items at end-game. Uniques, rares, crafted items, and set items will all have their place on high level characters. However, even with the numerous amounts of items in the game, it is only safe to assume that many people will have the same look. After all, with the set amount of item looks, most people will be wearing the highest level armor which means people will look somewhat similar as Bashiok states.

Official Blizzard Quote:

Well, there are a finite number of items, so being able to interact with potentially millions of players and never see two people who look alike unfortunately isn't too realistic. In addition, there are only a certain number of set looks per class, and so eventually there will be points where all the highest end players have the highest end set. That's where dyes, and even runes come in, among other things, to visually distinguish individuals. It would be awesome to have unlimited amounts of art going in to the game, but there has to be a line somewhere. Hopefully we can keep that line moving every once in a while though.

Perhaps the most interesting comment to point out in his statement is the fact that "runes and other things" will help our characters look different. Awhile back, there was mention of certain skill choices changing the look of your character. Not their actual appearance but how they look while fighting the Denizens of Hell. Even the Runestones we place in these skills will change our appearance. As Bashiok points out, even two Wizards with the same skill set will possibly have different runes inserted into these skills and this will change the overall look of these two characters while playing together. Their actual appearance will not change but their skills will look unique to each of them.

Official Blizzard Quote:

Assuming you're not standing around just admiring each other you'll be out and about killing stuff. Since each rune alters each ability in a visual (and usually mechanical) way, even if you and another wizard look exactly alike it's pretty unlikely you'll have the same skills chosen, but if you do, you're even less likely to have the same runes socketed.

Customization of characters in Diablo III appears to be a focus whether it be from skill choice, trait distribution, or armor choice and physical appearance. We can all hopefully look forward to many combinations of characters to play with.