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.
Thanks, I didnt get that. But, this means only 1 item per follower over lvl25. Random drop or extra quest since every follower have a own storyarc?
Not bad, I was thinking instead of just for single player or playing by your self...
How about having it so that if your friend joins, u both still have followers, so that's 4 chars running around(just like a full game) HOWEVER...
Once a 3rd "HERO" joins the game, the 2 followers and any remaining followers stay in town. I think that would be an even better system. It kinda defeats the purpose of putting all this time and effort into these "followers" only to have them go bibi when just "1 more hero" joins your game in MP...
Since they have stated that 4 heroes and 4 followers is chaotic... make is so if more than 2 heroes followers stay in town otherwise followers can be used. So, 2 Heroes and 2 Followers, that makes 4 total, If a 3rd hero joins all followers stay in town.
Now it's my turn I guess, the shoe's now on the other foot-
What a terrible, terrible system.
Single player only?
Snoozefest, don't care. Glad to know there's a cool system like this that I'll...never use, ever.
Multi-player: Max 4 players.
Multi-player: 1 player active, why cant we have 3 followers?
Multi-player: 1 player join, party of 2. 2 followers could be OK?
catch my drift?
However, new rules should imply, whos followers should be there? The creator of the new game, or equal people. Having 3 players means 1 follower, but it should be 0 followers.
I can see the confusion. Its best having 1 follower. Joined party-game 2+ = 0 followers.
I think its OK how the system is now.
As stated in another thread, I've read all the posts and read the interviews, thanks.
My sentiments, if you comprehended them, apply either way, to SP or 'I'm alone on Bnet'. I'd imagine if someone is on Bnet their primary focus is not sitting in private games forever by themselves. I repeat: whatever manpower was used on such a narrow feature was wasted on this. Cool system, but after maybe the initial playthrough, few people will ever see it again.
Unless people are genuinely concerned there won't be enough people playing D3 to fill up multiplayer games? Hahahah.
I have to agree here... With individual drops also in D3 what would be the point of mfing "solo" - If its just for being alone then its cool, but if that is the ONLY use... its alot of wasted time and effort for a system that won't get used alot... With mercs in D2 you had them with you all the time.
What would the so called "follower" be thinking ... "oh yea I'm helping you out *your friend joins* oh here's your friend I'm going to be lazy now and bugger off ttyl. I don't care about fighting the demons of hell anymore, u got all the help you need"
where's the... "LOGIC" in that lol... I understand what Blizz wants to do but it seems slightly broken atm. I think having 2 heroes and 2 followers sounds pretty cool and if a 3rd hero joins all followers go back to town. Cause well heroes > followers right?
Not 100% of the people that will buy diablo 3 will play co-op. I'm sure there's a a good enough % for single players only out there. So this feature will not go into waste.
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I agree with this. I love playing with a group of buddies online, but lately with how busy my life is (Med school, research, 2 kids, work) I know I'm not going to be able to meet up with buddies at scheduled times near as often as I'd like. So I will be getting random hours in here and there and I know I will appreciate the feel of the co-op with the followers system. I think this was brilliance by Blizzard.
People fail to remember that this game isn't being made specifically for them and that person only..... Blizzard is the master of creating games that millions of people can enjoy and they make systems that can cater to the various needs/desires/gameplay styles of many different gamer types. To those whiners out there, get over yourselves....
The problem I see is that it won't be used frequently enough. To me it almost seems like wasted time for them to even put them in the game in the aspect in which they did causing the release of the game take that much longer.
I personally love storyline but in D2 I never wanted to stop in the middle of killing/looting to read a freakin long book/scroll. So I think it'll be neat to be able to get the lore, while still creating a treasure rich blood bath at the same time.
However you seem to think that calling the followers a "terrible, terrible system" and whatnot is constructive criticism right? The system in itself is awesome and well done. Is it the fact that you are not ever going to use it, then, which makes it terrible? 'Cause if so, than you must consider yourself quite the judge of what's good and what's not for others. I don't approve of this system = this system is terrible and needs to change? Please...
I and many other fans who comment here on the forums will be playing D3 first time nice and slow on single player. That means from the moment we buy this game, followers will be a system we'll be using and enjoying. Just because YOU are one of those who won't be using the system doesn't mean that the system suddenly became terrible. Heck, I never really played Hardcore in D2. Does that make the system a redundant and terrible waste of time and space? No...it's just not attractive to ME personally. If you're that interested in playing with followers, I see no reason why you can't play SP to try it out. It's there and you can use it, it's a matter of choice. But if having more choice is a bad thing just because you won't be making use of some of the choices then sorry, but that's your problem. Crafting doesn't attract me in D3 but that's no basis for calling it a terrible system.
No this it not what they intend this system for although in some way it may feel like it.
I see this and I'm going to use Starcraft 2 as example. In Starcraft 2, there are a lot of unique units that you "can not" use in multiplayer. They only implemented it in single player to put more flavor in the story and game play and it worked! Come the "follower system" for D3. Single player mode, like the interview stated, they have their own story that's a part of the game.
Seriously, stop thinking that a game is made only for you. There are a lot of different players out there that blizzard is trying to reach and make happy. You like co-op then PLAY co-op. You like single player then play single player and enjoy the use of followers.
This is how I think they are intended to be used. But it still begs the question: Why did they devote so much time and so many resources into this when it becomes obsolete so quickly? I think that's my biggest complaint. If the followers weren't so well done and developed I wouldn't care as much. If they were like Diablo 2 classic mercenaries that followed you around until they died and you couldn't customize them then fine. You knew their purpose was only to help you out in the early stages when you weren't strong enough yet. Plus as we all know Blizzard takes a very long time to develop games. They want to make everything perfect. So you know this follower system had to have taken them quite a few months to do. The game actually may have been out by now if they didn't bother with this follower system. Just some food for thought.
To those saying they prefer playing alone: This isn't Diablo 2. In Diablo 2 there are advantages to playing solo and advantages to playing in a party. The biggest advantage to playing solo is you get all the loot to yourself. In Diablo 3 you get your own loot even with other players around. In fact more loot drops if there are more players because everyone gets their own loot that they can then trade. So you're at a DISADVANTAGE if you play solo in Diablo 3. They are encouraging you to play with others. The matchmaking will no doubt be very quick and easy so you can jump in a game and do whatever area you want with other players. So even if you liked soloing in Diablo 2 remember that this isn't Diablo 2.