Bashiok: There will almost definitely be some sort of system to respec; however, it isn't likely to be as liberal as World of Warcraft. We don't want to lock a player into a system that punishes them for mistakes, experimenting, or lack of knowledge early on in the game. We also don't think a system that allows immediate, complete, and at-a-whim changes to a character spec matches the feel of Diablo. It's likely to be somewhere in between.

That said we still feel like the desire to play the same class again that you may have played before is still a part of the game, and with some ability to respec could potentially require other incentives.

Bashiok: The health globes are actually, in my opinion, really cool. Playing the game and actually seeing what types of strategy they encourage, you can start to see what they add and how they make the combat more interesting.

I'll set the scene. You're a barbarian, you're in the wilderness and after fighting wave after wave of ghouls, skeletons, demons, what have you, you're low on health. You're out of potions, and after using a strategic leap out of the fray you turn around and seismic slam the skeletons charging you. Two of them drop health globes, but the globes dropped behind the skeletons that are still advancing. If they reach you, you're not going to survive. Are you able to leap safely to snag the globes before they can tear into you? Can you throw out another slam and try to remove the remaining enemies? How can you survive? You have a fraction of a second to decide.

The health globes help to create situations just like this, where you're not just sitting there spamming potions, you're using your abilities and strategy to stay alive. Possibly most importantly, you're encouraged to keep fighting, and not just run away.

With random spawns, random drops, and of course the randomness of combat, the health globes add to creating situations that are just more... interesting, and in my opinion, fun.

On the side of potions, they still exist, but they're likely to be on a cooldown of some type. They'll also likely restore health based on a percentage that's relative to your character. They may heal an instant amount, they may be the old over time type system. They're probably going to be filling an emergency-heal role more than anything though. -- post

Fan said: They have literally said Diablo 3 will be "first and foremost a cooperative game". Which leads me to believe it's possible they add a talent tree for dedicated healers to one or several classes.

Bashiok: No. Not that classes won't benefit from each other in various ways, Barbarian shouts being good party buffs, etc. but every class is essentially a demon-killing DPS class. We have no intentions to create a tank, or healer, etc. Every class will play their own way, and while some may take direct hits easier than others, it certainly wouldn't define their role within a party. Everyone should be kicking in heads at the same time.

Diablo III having a strong emphasis on cooperative play is really building upon one of the best parts of Diablo II, and that's charging through dungeons with other people. Our focus is on removing the frustrations that existed with grouping, and adding new features that encourage everyone to stick together and fight as a party.

Currently - while in a party each player will see their own drops from each kill.

This could mean that after killing a zombie I see a sword drop, and you may see a shoulder slot item drop. Or I see nothing drop, while you got an axe.

Obviously while in a group you're killing faster, and this could translate to an exponentially increasing number of drops with each additional player in your party. However, it's balanced in such a way that the drop % is pulled back a bit with each additional player (I'm simplifying it, but that's what it boils down to). This keeps it from being almost detrimental to not play with a full party, while still giving a nice increase to the amount of drops if you do.

From this system it seems quite a few people got the impression that you'll never see items drop that you can't use. For instance, a Barbarian will never see a dagger that only a Witch Doctor can use. This isn't true. There is no effect, or at least no currently intended effect, to restrict which items which classes can or can't see for their respective drops. It's still intended that you could see an item that your class can't use. It's easy enough to drop the item, ask if anyone can use it, or just sell it off of course. -- post

Robert B. Marks: "I would like to add just one thing - I am very grateful to Marco Palmieri for having given me the chance to write Demonsbane. If it hadn't been for him, Demonsbane, my column Garwulf's Corner, my book The EverQuest Companion, and much of my writing career would never have gotten off the ground as well as it did. It was a blast to work for him, and I owe him more than I could ever express or repay.

Demonsbane was the first book published set in the Diablo world. It was published on Halloween 2000, and it was part of the first e-book "revolution." Unfortunately, as history has shown, the market for e-books was quite small at the time, and so while Demonsbane was advertised for some months on Battle.net, the sales were in the hundreds, rather than the thousands, and it ended up being more or less a "lost gem." I am delighted beyond words that Demonsbane can now be enjoyed by the public as I had always hoped it would be.

Demonsbane is, of the entire collection, the story that is set earliest in the Diablo story line - it's set right after the defeat of the Warlord of Blood in the Sin War, and tells in part the story of Sarnakyle, the Vizjerei Lord who brought his people back to elemental magic. It also introduces Siggard, a character I am very, very fond of, and one of the little known but vital battles that kept the demonic powers from taking Sanctuary and using it as a base against the Angelic hosts.

Because it was the first piece of Diablo professional fiction (and my first book sale, for that matter), and because we really did expect e-books to be a lot bigger than they turned out to be, it felt like I had to set the tone for the series, and help establish Sanctuary not only as a living and breathing game world, but also as a living and breathing world in literature. So, I did a lot of world building using flavour quotes at the beginning of each chapter - in effect, I built up a body of literature written by people from the world of Sanctuary like Godfrey of Westmarch, Gesinius of Kehjistan, and even King Leoric himself. This was a bit of a necessity, as since Demonsbane was an e-book, it was limited to being only about a quarter of the size of one of the print books, and there wasn't a really good way to do massive world building otherwise. In the here and now, I hope those quotes are something that Diablo fans will be able to sink their teeth into, and imagine how the rest of the Lay of Arkaine might have gone, or what else King Leoric would have written about the art of war.

(Personally, I knew that I had gotten the story, characters, and world building right when Chris Metzen read the finished draft and replied with "I f---ing love it!")

So it is my greatest pleasure that the story that began the Diablo fiction line is now available in this way to Diablo fans - I hope that they have as much fun reading it as I had writing it. Writing Demonsbane was an absolute blast, and while I am not lined up at this point in time to write another Diablo book, if I was offered one I would do it in a heartbeat."

Today at Robert B. Marks blog he said: "Well, the author's copies of Diablo Archive have arrived, and they made my day.  The book looks lovely, and the neat things I had put into Demonsbane, like a quote from an epic poem about Arkaine in Beowulf-style verse, came out just as I had hoped they would.

My story is the last in the book, starting at page 681 and ending on page 738 (it's a novella- it's going to be shorter than the full length books).

It feels good - I've waited eight years to hold Demonsbane in my hands like this...it's a great feeling."

Richard A. Knaak: "Well, Diablo 3 is at last revealed!  I'm glad to finally be able to at least talk about its existence, if little about the upcoming details of it.  However, just in time and at Blizzard's special insistence, the DIABLO ARCHIVE is now available!  As with the WARCRAFT ARCHIVE, this trade paperback includes the original three novels set in Sanctuary, including two of my own, LEGACY OF BLOOD and KINGDOM OF SHADOW!  In the first, a treasure hunt goes terribly awry as the monstrous curse of the Warlord of Blood's armor forces Norrec Vizharan to murder his companions and begin a deadly quest, all the while pursued by demons, sorceresses, revenants, necromancers and an ambitious general.  His only hope is to survive the armor's evil intent as it searches for one who escaped it centuries ago...

The second of my novels brings together the necromancer, Zayl, the mercenary Kentril Dumon, the sorcerer Quov Tsin, and others as their destinies lead them to the lost city of Ureh --- once called the Gateway to the High Heavens, so pious was it.  But there is a shadow over the city that stretches into evil and what is a ruin is not necessarily empty, for Ureh is said in legend to come back to life...

In addition, the archive also includes not only Mel Odom's BLACK ROAD, but also, as a special bonus, Robert B. Marks' tale, DEMONSBANE!  The DIABLO ARCHIVE is the largest of the Blizzard collections yet, and I'm excited to be a part of it...and a part of the shadowy world of Sanctuary itself.  From the beginning, I've enjoyed delving into it and adding to its history, even when many wondered if there would ever be another game in the series.

I'd like to thank many people for their part in this, also, including Chris Metzen at Blizzard, Marco Palmieri at Pocket Books, Medievaldragon at Blizzplanet, Tanith at Gamersvault, and all those who believed that we had not seen the last of Sanctuary!  I hope that those of you who try the archive enjoy these first tales!"

Best

Richard A. Knaak