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.
Scaling for multi-player will have to be good though. 4 players, with different spells assigned to their followers, for maximum passive/active bonuses/damage.
But, we shall wait until it's released to see how broken co-op is.
The 3 archetypal followers seem like a nice shoutout to good old D1, keeping it nice and simple while adding depth into the system.
As for the quest where you gain them, I think it would be kind of stupid to spend time training a follower you're not going to use, so I think they might be available all at once so you can spend as much time as possible training the one you want. The only other option would be that the later followers will start at higher level...which would mean that after hiring them, you'd spend like 20 minutes assigning skills and stuff which I think won't sit too well with blizzard. Since they seem like real followers and not somebody you hire, I think there won't be anyone that would ressurect them, like some merc-master similar to Greiz or something. They just could have a ressurection cooldown, the higher level, the longer cooldown.
Still curious about the swapping system though. Blizzard seems intent on giving us choices and not making any decision we make permanent and everlasting. There must be a way to swap them put it should be complicated/expensive so we just can't keep swapping them as we encounter various problematic enemies. That would kinda defeat the purpose of having to chose one which fits your character best.
interview:
http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/pc/games/156898/features/136995.20110513.Diablo-IIIs-Followers/?utm_source=forums&utm_medium=updates-list
assets:
http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/pc/games/156898/galleries/137027.20110513.Diablo-III-Follower-assets/?utm_source=forums&utm_medium=updates-list
Some good info in there.
For all you nay-sayers out there:
1.) All your followers hang around town and don't need to be leveled up individually. You can trade out all day and they keep up with your level (or a little below).
2.) They are only slightly less expendable than original mercs it would seem, not some all powerful second champ.
3.) They auto-revive after a short time when they die.
4.) Just the equipment on the screens shown.
5.) No runes
6.) Each of them have have a gold find and a magic find ability.
7.) Single Player Only.
What is that square with locket saying "25" then???
Edit: Just say PAGE 2. after a re-look.
Gameplanet: Can followers use skill runes?
Boyarsky: No.
Expansionpack: Necromancer-alike type of follower and the addon of skillrunes.
and
Followers seems to be a great idea!
This is such a terrible decision on their part.
Gameplanet: Will followers be used in multiplayer at all?
Boyarsky: No, they’re purely for singleplayer.
This takes care of my concern on screen clutter
"Followers won't steal your glory, says Wilson"
Sounds good but we'll see.
"They don't actually die, they just get knocked unconscious and there's a timer on that which I think is currently 15 to 20 seconds."
One of the interview says you can either revive them manually or just wait for them to automatically revive. This still doesn't answer my concern on balancing but on of Jay Wilson's interview says that you don't need them to play the game but very little reason why you wouldn’t.
Based of 3 interviews from different blizzard rep. Now that I know more how this system works, looks like it's not so bad after all.
There's already the "real person" in co-op and you still want a follower? Waste of resources for 2 rings an amulet and weapon/shield or weapon/weapon... are you planning to only play an hour per week?
I'm sorry but to me, someone who still wants a follower in co-op is a weak player (and i could've said noob!).
i really hated the idea of merc returning, but just for single seems acceptable
And I look forward to play with their skills.
Guess they'll give us many more gamestyles.
I liked even this lines from AusGamers interview:
Seems we will at least have some more news.
Could this be a reason why Blizzard wanted to limit the party to only four peeps instead of eight?
Luckily, though, it was mentioned that the Followers are used only in single player, or you could just imagine a scenario like this:
Woodland area. Zombies milling around, attempting to figure out what to do for the rest of the day. Heroes waltzing in with associated followers in tow.
Zombies: "Aww, crap ..."
Choice#1: four heroes, four followers slaughtering everyone. Not really a challenge.
Choice#2: eight heroes, eight followers slaughtering everyone. DEFINITELY not a challenge anymore.
Choice#3: four heroes, no followers. Nuff said.
Again, just a thought (and my first posting here )