Bashiok on Rune Levels and Progression

Bashiok recently revealed some very interesting information about DiabloWiki.com - Skill Runes Skill Runes in Diablo III which should put to rest some questions raised in a recent topic in these forums.

The first question he responded to was in regards to how we will acquire runes in the game:

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1. Will all ranks of runes drop or will it function more like gems where the high level runes have to be crafted to be obtained?
All ranks are currently planned to drop, but that could change. Many ideas have been thrown around about runes being obtained through other means, but an increasingly lower drop rate as the runes go up in rank seems like a good option still. The question still comes up how they'll be bled out of the economy, and we have some good ideas for that.
It seems that, unlike DiabloWiki.com - Gems Gems in Diablo III, gaining the maximum rank of a rune will be a much faster process. Where gems only drop the first five out of fourteen levels, as of right now all skill runes will drop in game, and will not have to be crafted. We should keep in mind, however, that this does not mean that lower rank runes will not be able to be combined to make higher rank runes. If the drop rates for skill runes in Diablo III are anywhere close to as low as the rates for runes in Diablo II, combining skill runes could prove to be one of the only ways to gain large amounts of high level skill runes.

As Bashiok points out, this type of system could easily lead to there being too many skill runes in the economy. We can only speculate how they will be taken out of the economy, but one possibility could be some sort of downgrade whenever you respec or change the rune in a skill. This type of system would increase the cost of experimentation however, which is something Blizzard has said they want to avoid. Once again, it appears as though we must wait for more information.

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2. Are all five runes equally as rare or is one or more types rarer than others?
That's a good question, I can see how that could be justified. I don't know what the plan is there, I'll have to ask. My gut is that it would be too much to keep some type of rune 'power rating' in mind when altering drop rates, especially post-release where patches could jumble them around a fair bit. "This rune sucks now but it's still the rarest!" Also, ideally, each rune type will be equally viable to different people and builds. Saying one is more powerful than another would mean we're probably balancing them to be, and that's not the case.
Ideally, every rune will end up being useful for some equally useful build. However, the ideal situation is often not the outcome. Having said that, Blizzard has a very good track record of keeping things balanced in their games, and given the amount of possible combinations of skills and runes, each rune will probably end up having its place. The real question becomes which rune will be useful for the most builds? If, for example, the Indigo rune is only viable in two legitimate and widely used builds, and the Crimson rune ends up being viable for five widely used builds, the Crimson rune will obviously be more valuable in trading, even though the Indigo rune has its place. Unfortunately, translating these discrepancies to drop rates is an entirely different story. As Bashiok points out, constantly micromanaging rune drop rates would probably become too much of a burden as the value of a given rune would end up changing far too often as new builds are discovered.

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3. Will the increase in rank continue the change that the first rank made to the skill? For example, with the WD blow dart skill, the alabaster runes turns the dart into a snake. What does a higher ranking alabaster rune do?
Yes the mechanic stays the same for the rune type in all ranks (more or less), it simply increases in power. For the alabaster in poison dart example I'm actually not sure the increase in effect, but likely plays off of the stun effect (higher ranks stun the target for longer). Runes that reduce cost reduce even more cost as the rank increases. A rune that would cause multiple projectiles would fire even more projectiles as the rank increases, etc. It's not necessarily a hard and fast rule though that the increase must only be one thing. Maybe it means more projectiles AND ups the damage a little to make sure it remains competitive with other runes or skills. It has to be a somewhat fluid system.
In a pretty self explanatory answer, Bashiok makes it clear that each rank of each rune will continue to do the same thing. However, he does point out that additional effects will be added whenever it is necessary to allow the rune to remain viable. Whether or not this applies to more interesting effects than adding damage is still up in the air however, so keep your fingers crossed. Who knows? Maybe you'll be able to shoot two snakes at once after rank four of the Alabaster rune.

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4. Around what level will you have to be to use the highest level rune?
The limitation, currently, is based on level of the skill. Level of the skill is determined by character level to pump points into the skill, but it's also determined by upping that skill to higher caps. As a completely made up example, you may need 6 skill points in a skill before you can socket in a rank 3 rune. But you can't spend more than 5 skill points in that skill until you up the cap! Ha HAH!
In what is our first information about how skill rune progression will work, Bashiok reveals that the level skill rune available to be used in a skill will be determined by the level of the skill, not the character. This means that if you only got one point in, say, Leap Attack so you had a mobility skill, you won't be able to boost its power to that much of a higher level, as you will only be able to place a low level rune in the skill. This will most likely lead to some very interesting decisions when designing a build, as adding one skill point to boost a skill from level 5 to 6 could end up being much more important than the increase from level 4 to 5, as having a skill at level 6 will not only increase the skill's power, but also allow for a new rank of rune. However, your build could end up with two level 5 skills when you only have one point left to spare, and which skill you put that point in could very well end up defining your build. These kinds of options are what will really end up making each character unique in Diablo III.


Bashiok had an equally interesting tidbit at the end of that answer:

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Mechanics for increasing a skill's cap are still in design.
Although previously we were informed that skill caps would increase with the difficulty level, with 5 being the limit in Normal, 10 in Nighmare, and 15 in Hell, it appears that the system has changed. The most likely system would probably have something to do with the character's level, but skill levels could also be increased by quests, progression through the Acts, or maybe by having to spend a skill point in order to unlock the next "tier" of skill levels.


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5. How rare will the high level runes be? Can we expect to have top rank runes in each of our skills or will they be extremely rare?
That comes down to drop balance, but the intent is that higher rank runes are a long term character improvement goal. For that reason they're incremental power upgrades and not necessarily giant leaps of "If you have rank 4 you will be decimated by rank 5". Although I have a feeling saying this will come back to bite me.

Even though each level of rune currently drops in game, Bashiok has made it clear that gaining max level runes will still be a process, and a goal similar to gaining level 14 gems. However, this massive time investment is implied to be more for making your character the best it can possibly be, but is not completely necessary to remain at a competitive level. These two statements seem to contradict themselves, as if gaining a max level rune requires such a large time investment, or at least requires something valuable to trade, then why wouldn't they also be proportionally more powerful? If people are going to be spending hours on end looking for a rune, I for one believe they should be rewarded. Fortunately, Bashiok seems to imply that this system is still a work in progress, and every aspect of it is subject to change.

Don't forget to give our very own Scyberdragon some rep for asking some great questions, and getting some great answers as a result!

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