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Jay: Well one of the things we’ve carried over is the way the general co-op features work,. When you’re playing the game you can have another player jump into your game any time so it’s very dynamic - the game adjusts automatically to the number of players who are there. One of the ways we’ve really improved that is what I like to say is our prime directive is “thou shall do no harm to the co-operative game” - something that Diablo 2 didn’t really follow.

They liked the idea that players can compete against one another while being co-operative. But I think - while a noble experiment - it mostly proved to make players not like each other and not want to play together. The average game size on battle.net in Diablo 2 games is 1.2 players - which basically means almost everyone is playing games by themselves. One of the main reasons is “why would you want to play with someone else?” They can go hostile at any time and kill you, mostly in an exploitive way and it’s not like it’s a fair fight - you’d probably be dead before you even noticed they went hostile; there’s a good chance they’ll steal all your loot so you won’t get anything good and it just makes the game a little bit harder so why would you want to play that way?

Quote from "Krow" »

Sounds like you'll need a few stamina potions, yes, but I doubt you'll need a health globe to stand there.

Quote from "milanv" »

I hope you meant after blizzcon

anyway, can you provide a source?

Before I get in to what we are doing let me go over some things we want to avoid with a death mechanic.

We want to separate being in town and being out on a quest/adventure/dungeon as much as possible. Leaving the safety of a town should not be a decision you take lightly. We don't want to remove the sense of suspense and danger by making town something you're always going back to pretty much whenever you like. The intent is to create a greater separation from being in town, and not, and to make your time away from town a lot more tense.

On that same note we also don't want to remove the player from the action. Throwing them back to town for every death really breaks up the action, and not in a fun, interesting, or necessary way.

So, with these things in mind we've found that a check point system works really well. Throughout your adventures, and generally at the ends of each "floor" of a dungeon your character is saved to a checkpoint. When you die you're dropped back at the last checkpoint with a small amount of health, and the rest regenerates slowly. It's obviously a very forgiving system as it is. It's just too early to put a ton of thought in to what penalties there should be, if any, added on top of it.

Regardless, potential penalties aside, this is the death mechanic we're currently using and it's working really well so far. -- source

Well, you have to realize that it's been 20 years, and in technological terms that can be a very long time. We're trying to create a world that's not static, its filled out, and with that it's an advancing world. With that amount of time, and also the loss of the Arreat Summit much of the remaining barbarian culture has focused on... nah I'm just kidding, there aren't any guns. -- source

Quote from "Atrumentis" »

I thought this was old news? Or was it only Diablo I that was available for purchase as a digital download before now?

WoW-Europe: If you haven't had the chance to check out the Blizzard Store, now is the perfect time to do so. Blizzard-themed merchandise of all kinds is available for the discerning fan, from t-shirts and caps through to action figures and board games. The Blizzard Store also stocks the Blizzard Authenticator, a supplemental authentication method for your World of Warcraft account, providing you with even more security to keep your characters and items safe.

Digital downloads are also available for Diablo II, StarCraft, and Warcraft III along with their respective expansion sets. Linking these to your Blizzard Account means that you can download them anywhere, with the CD keys conveniently attached to your Blizzard Account.

Standard Monster Classes
Below you will find a listing of all known monster classes in the game, progressively growing as more information is released, explaining features that offer distinction to other enemies.
Each monster class has a set of types within it, the Dark Cultist class containing types such as the Dark Summoner and Dark Vessel. These different types have distinct statistics in terms of hit points, resistance levels, and special abilities. Additionally, each type is generally found in distinct areas of the game, later varieties naturally becoming better equipped to take down your hero or heroine.

As one might expect, Diablo III comes loaded with a large variety of demonic, undead, and animal-based foes serving the desires of evil. A number of these monster classes return from previous games in the series, while others act as spiritual successors; the Gnarled Walkers are an excellent example following in the root-steps of Thorned Hulks. Of course, the game is host to many new monsters like the Dune Thresher.

The way it works now is that when an item drops the name shows for about 5 seconds and then they fade out and disappear. Pressing Alt shows all dropped item names for again about 5 seconds and then the names fade out and disappear.

I actually didn't like it at first, I liked the on/off state of pressing or not pressing Alt, but with the names showing immediately after drop and having a sort of "grace period" after just tapping Alt, it's really grown on me and is a lot more intuitive. It's a lot easier to see what just dropped quickly and decide if you care, and it isn't necessary to constantly hold down Alt while scavenging after a large fight.

I still want to see -nopickup return but I haven't really asked anyone what the possibility of that is. I don't think it would work well with the current system, so options may have to be a possibility.

The Diablo 3 Bestiary now features a new creature from the realm of Sanctuary: the terrifying Dune Thresher.

As I was preparing to set pen to paper to begin recording my thoughts at the beginning of my epic undertaking to gather the world's knowledge together in one tome, the hand of providence tapped me on the shoulder. The news that a rogue burrower had killed a citizen just outside the city gave me the wonderful opportunity to see firsthand one of the more disturbing creatures we share this world with – the savage dune thresher.

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We've also expanded the media galleries with four new pieces of artwork and four new screenshots.

Excerpt

As I was preparing to set pen to paper to begin recording my thoughts at the beginning of my epic undertaking to gather the world's knowledge together in one tome, the hand of providence tapped me on the shoulder. The news that a rogue burrower had killed a citizen just outside the city gave me the wonderful opportunity to see firsthand one of the more disturbing creatures we share this world with – the savage dune thresher.

Long ago driven away from settled locales to the deep desert wastes of the Borderlands, the dune thresher is rarely seen by city dwellers. Every so often, however, whether due to injury or old age, one of these unholy beasts ventures to the edge of civilization to feast on the frail human animal. When this happens, a professional like Franklin Burroughs, the famed guide and hunter, is called in to put an end to the threat.

Fortunately, Burroughs and I, both being men of travel and adventure, have naturally crossed paths before (frequent readers of my works will no doubt remember this grizzled, rough-hewn boulder of a man from my classic, Xiansai Chronicles). Thus, I contacted him so that I was able to take part in his quest to rid us of the burrowing nightmare. He acted reluctant at first, but I could tell he was happy to have me along.