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.
Step 1: Introduce followers.
Step 2: Watch at 1:18 as the "Templar" tanks 8 Khazra as the Wizard spams magic missle from the sidelines.
Step 3: Imagine how that battle would play out without the follower.
The end.
What a joke. I can't believe people are happy about this. I created some fan art to celebrate this monumental announcement.
Diablo 3
Typical Demon Hunter encounter
For once, i like the way they're going. Their abilities and roles can complete those of the player character while playing solo, or even in a group.
I do, however, like the idea of getting all three from the same quest and each difficulty level you choose which to unlock. There were several quests in D2 that after the first difficulty were absolutely useless, and that was not a pleasant experience. If this were the case I would hope that you can't have more than one with you at any given time.
Overall looks good, if a bit unfinished.
1. screen clutter!!! need i say more?
2. will steal your kill = you feel less awesome
3. monsters in the game are now balanced/scaled knowing you have a follower, meaning if they die you're more vulnerable but oh well more challenge I guess but again you feel less awesome
Don't get me wrong I'm not against this system just not hyped on it. I will hold further judgement till blizzard release more official info.
As I see it, the key problem with a follower system is that you either make them an integral part of the game, and more or less force players to use them, or you make them optional, in which case players must be able to play the game without them, thus rendering them more or less useless. I suspect the former is the case here (D2 was more towards the useless department except at high level play).
No doubt will be able to play through the game without a follower, but it will most likely be easier and more efficient to have one of these with you, making it much not a choice when you think about it. If the alternative to walking a mile is pushing a rock in front of you for a mile with no added benefit, it's not much of a choice.
Keep in mind that we really know nothing about the mechanics of them at this point however, so it would seem wise to wait with a final verdict, at least for now.
As in they could essentially make it so that its just another thing you can put money towards, and since you only have limited funds its either you put gold in, say, followers, but that means you can't put it towards crafting better items or getting the best enchantments on all your gear at all times, etc. Especially if they die often and it costs money to resurrect them (which I'm assuming you'll be able to do, considering the customization that seems to go into each follower).
Obviously in the endgame things might change, since you can (presumably) save up gold much easier, so in order to be at the peak of your game you would still possibly need a follower, but well tuned gold costs could at least make it a choice thats not necessarily the best one while you're leveling.
The customization itself seems like it would alleviate a lot of these criticisms: if you don't enjoy that your Follower is killing a lot or whatever, it seems like you can tweak them / not gear them so they're not even remotely powerful except perhaps as a way to increase Magic Find or something (e.g., the Scoundrel's skills look to possibly work this way).
The dev team has iterated time and time again wanting to offer as many comparable choices as possible so that people can play however they want. Of course you'll be at a disadvantage with no follower at all, it's like saying you want to play the game with only 5 skills instead of 7, or without wearing any armor pieces. Just because you have to utilize something (the caravan, Followers, gear) doesn't mean you can't do it in a way you enjoy. And if there's no way around it, you simply can't stand having a Follower in any capacity whatsoever, it seems likely (as has been pointed out already) that you'll be able to divest of them and use your gold / equipment / whatever in such a way that you're not handicapped severely.
I say let's see more info / get more actual gameplay with the Followers and see what we can / cannot do with them (or do without them) before throwing feces at the entire system. I think this is natural, whenever there's any reveal like this there's a lot of knee-jerking going on, it's hard to remember we don't know much about this yet. I'm as guilty of this as anyone, just saying.
Haha, I really hated how far the mercs strayed in D2, If they stay closer to the player and don't just wander around aimlessly...
Running baals atm and my zons merc often likes to target the stupid tentacles rather than baal...