We have all been waiting for the next system to be announced; well, the wait is over. A leak* has just unveiled their Followers system. As talked about earlier, the Followers system is something that Blizzard has been working on since before the unveiling of Diablo III itself. Little information has been shared about how exactly the system will work in comparison to Diablo II. In the previous installment, players were offered four different types of Hirelings, one from each act, while most players chose the infamous Act II mercenary. Each had their own unique fighting style with a choice of three different skills. After hiring one, the player was able to equip a helm, weapon, and body armor on their hireling. There were no more options for customization with these characters as they would then follow you around and fight with you until their untimely demise.
Well, it appears in Diablo III, there will be a bit more customization to these characters. There are three types of Followers; the Enchantress, the Templar, and the Scoundrel. Each comes with their own play style as well skill set for players to choose from. The skill sets will be in tiers just like you character with new skills being unlocked every 5 levels. The player than can choose one skill of that tier to give their Follower. There is also some altered the equipment slots to a weapon, amulet, and two rings. It appears that certain equipment slots and skill choices will unlock as your Follower levels. The character will also show armor value, damage, life and resistances for Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, Holy, and Arcane (The Holy and Arcane resistance appear to be interchangeable).
The Enchantress
The Enchantress will be your magic Follower. Able to cast skills from afar, she will pair nicely with a more melee oriented character to blast away enemies from a distance.
Skill choices:
- Tier 1 (Unlocked at lvl 5) - Disorient, Forceful Push, Charm
- Tier 2 (Unlocked at lvl 10) - Decoy, Reflect Missles, Powered Armor
- Tier 3 (Unlocked at lvl 15) - Focus Mind, Amplify Damage, Lower Resistance
- Tier 4 (Unlocked at lvl 20) - Energize, Energy Bomb, Guidance
The Scoundrel
The Scoundrel will be a ranged physical fighter. Wielding a crossbow or bow, the Scoundrel will stay away from the forefront of the fight and pick off enemies from a distance.
Skill Choices:
- Tier 1 - Crippling Shot, Rapid Fire, Poison Bolt
- Tier 2 - Bandage, Dirty Fighting, Scavenge
- Tier 3 - Power Shot, Multishot, Rain of Gold
- Tier 4 - Anatomy, Black Market, Vanish
The Templar
The Templar is your melee Follower. Taking the role of a Paladin like character, he will be in the front of the fight. Pairing him up with a ranged class may be a good idea to help keep your enemies at bay. WE actually saw this character as the Jack of Spades in the Diablo III poker set.
Skill Choices:
- Tier 1 - Charge, Heal, Protection
- Tier 2 - Guardian, Intimidate, Loyalty
- Tier 3 - Intervene, Inspire, Tribute
- Tier 4 - Empathy, Onslaught, Knight
*Note that this has not been officialized or released by Blizzard yet but the current information is accurate.
Too bad I'll probably never use them.
so less ppl will have them (ends the problem with 8 ppl on screen) and ppl that jst don't want it can spend the gold at other gold sinks (ends the problem that some ppl don't like it but feel in disadvantage)
also hope that blizz make a great ai.. so my barb have a smart enchantress that keep distance and dont die all the time
"I'd recommend everyone back down from their perceptions of what they believe is true, because tomorrow, from my perspective, everyone is going to be eating crow."
Here is the forum thread: http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=27808130696&sid=3000
Official Blizzard Quote:
I'd recommend everyone back down from their perceptions of what they believe is true, because tomorrow, from my perspective, everyone is going to be eating crow.
Edit: Bashiok's comment could perfectly also intend that people make assumptions about game balance and so on don't have any information to really judge the Follower system, which is ostensibly all I've been saying in this thread.
I really doubt the video is old.
Official Blizzard Quote:
I'd recommend everyone back down from their perceptions of what they believe is true, because tomorrow, from my perspective, everyone is going to be eating crow.
Oh shit, son!
Edit: In case you were wondering: Eating Crow
That's my assumption as well. I think they'll release some information that goes along with the info we received today.
Interesting that you say that because you're mostly right. I find the folks over there to be a lot less mature than the folks here.
Yes they do, I basically reserve judgement until some actual concrete information is released vs the video.
People are very quick to call doom.
I wonder what Bashi means, if they've changed, at least we'll get to see how?
I thought the same thing, but I have to assume it was either an early build, or the settings were low. Anyway it was zoomed and sometimes slowed, so poly count is gonna get put under a microscope. I'm not worried about the graphics overall, but I AM continually wetting myself about how cool this video is.
Agreed. The Follower system is not going to break your D3 experience. Obviously what we know about this system thus far, gives you the chance to let your Follower take the lead, or sit in the back of your ride. I have a sneaking suspicion that most who hate the system, will come to appreciate it.
Lets wait to see what Blizz has to say about it tomorrow.
I'm afraid this only happens in Dragon Age and The Witcher
Story telling is supposed to be more than in the previous games, but nothing like those games where you can simply stand by the campfire talk with your NPC friends for hours. It's all about the monster slaying and looting.
Because I'm extremely worried that no matter how good the game play might be.... you still can't have shitty graphic like that we saw today in 21st century gaming industry.
There are millions of non-hardcore players who've never played diablo 2 in their life time. And for them, Diablo 3 may look very dull and less attractive...
Like SC2, D3 will be scalable to run on a very wide variety of systems, it can look I'm sure either terrible or glorious, your hardware will be the deciding factor.
That said, D3 is not the game anyone will be using to show off their hardware e-peen, and that's a good thing.
However, it seems like the koreans made mistake with timing.... (perhaps miscommunication)
As for video, I'm pretty sure this is the final video we'll get... seeing how demon Hunter was in the video.
This was made within the last few months from my speculation