DiabloFans

The following was written by Dauroth-
Okay, before I start with this, I'd like you to read this excerpt from Kingdom of Shadow:

Ichor dripped from a scaly, barely fleshed skull that almost appeared to have been stretched long. Two wicked, scaled horns rose high above bat-winged ears. Over the deathly crevices that were all that formed a nose, the thick-browed orbs of the demon lord glared at the impudent human, the hatred and evil within them matching exactly that which the horrified mercenary had noted in the image of the false archangel Mirakodus.

This is the description of Diablo's appearance, as he appeared to Kentril Dumon. Now look at this picture:

The description matches perfectly, especially the part about "two wicked, scaled horns that rise above bat-winged ears".

Now take a look at this picture:

Now, the first thing you should notice is, that the horns are scaled, just as they are in the description and on the first picture. There is also one extra pair of horns. If we compare the two pics, it looks like those are not the same monsters/demons. But, take a look at the details. The bat-winged ears are nowhere to be seen in the second pic! However, the extensions of the demon's horns could be interpreted as wings (not literally). If you take a look at the animation, you can see that those things are moving simultaneously with the demon's mouth. When they stretch, the skin between the bones stretches in a similar manner just like bat wings.

Now, to the second and smaller pair of extensions that are located at the base of his cheeks (they are actually closer to his mouth than to his cheeks). You can see those in both the first and the second pic, and if you look at the animation, you can see that those things are moving in the same manner as their larger counterpart. If we take another look at the first pic, we can notice small, claw-like things that are located right by the horns. Now, let's take a look at this picture:




Notice those small sharp endings right by the side of his horns? I know, it's not the same, but they are conveniently placed at the same position.

Horns aside, there is something else I want to show you. This is the last thing, I promise!

If we take another look at the first picture, we can see a sign, some kind of a seal or even a rune, on the demon's forehead.

Now if we look at any of the remaining pictures, we can see a bright spot on the demon's/Diablo's forehead. Many people claimed that this is a hole where his Soulstone used to be. But, the Wanderer's body was destroyed in Diablo II, which means that this can't be the before mentioned hole!

The first picture is the artistic representation of Diablo's true form. Pay attention to the word "artistic"! I would like to compare this picture to a group of images that can be found in Collin de Plancy's "Dictionnaire Infernal", a book on demonology. Kingdom of Shadow tells us that Diablo has bat-winged ears, and the first picture is showing this perfectly. If we look at the other pictures, there are clearly no bat-winged ears, but the extensions I mentioned before could represent them, since the first pic is an "artistic" representation. After all, what do we know about demonic anatomy! Also, the excerpt from Kingdom of Shadow shouldn't be taken literally, since you can never know what the writer wanted to say. The best example for this is J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. To this day, there are some fans that doubt that the Balrog was indeed a fiery 20-foot tall horned demon or that Sauron literally took a form of a great fire eye. They think that those are just a bunch of metaphors. I think we can say that the bat-winged ears in our case is just another metaphor.

The sign/seal/rune on the demon's forehead is probably telling us that there is something of great importance located here. It is also an artistic representation of what we see as a bright spot on Diablo's forehead. What could it be, it's open to debate, but the artist clearly wanted us to know that there is something going on there.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

-Dauroth

Yahoo Games recently posted a newsbit on Activision-Blizzard's plans for the coming years, with an interesting tidbit built in:

Quote from Yahoo »

Blizzard is also working on Diablo III, the third game in their hit role-playing series. It's currently planned for release in 2011.

With no official word directly from Blizzard, this may be more speculation than fact, but it's definitely more than any information we currently have on a release date. You know: nothing

Kudos to ForeverBARB for posting about this here, and I would like to remind everyone that if you find any Diablo or Blizzard-related news, we encourage you to report it to the news staff (the folks in green) so that it can be put on DiabloFans as soon as possible. Thanks!

Hey, it's an old topic, but it looks like we don't have much more going on, so without further adieu, topic necromancy for all!

Leveling in Diablo III? What do you want to see make a come back, or do you want something new? A fan over at that other forum petitioned, or rather suggested, an age-old formula for simplicity and character growth that's been around for nearly as long as the role-playing video game, itself:

Posted by Aveh:

Since they've [unofficially] announced that they've been experimenting with some large changes to the skill system in Diablo 3 there have been a lot of rumours and guessing going on about what they plan to do.

One suggestion that i thought was interesting was that your skills are "trained" in a way that the more you use them the stronger they get similar to the old styles of Ultima Online and a couple other games.

And he may be on to something. That same form of level-grinding could be considered detrimental to the whole fast-paced facade that the Diablo franchise has shot for. But is the grind all that bad? It was certainly present in Diablo III's predecessors, and it did give players things to do, even if they were the same ones. Over and over again. And again. And killing Baal again. *cough*

What would you suggest for some level-up up-scaling in Diablo III? Should anything change from Diablo II's system?

Just posted on Blizzard's Twitter page, fans can now peruse a swath of fantastic developmental Blizzard concept art for many of their newest games, including tons from the Diablo, Starcraft, and World of Warcraft universes:


Reminisce the good times over the last two years that we've seen unique and vibrant Diablo III concept art, including pieces of the female Monk, Deckard Cain, bestiary, locations, and the ever-enduring Archivist class. Twenty-eight pages of colored joy await- get started!

Bashiok has posted an update regarding their activity in banning violators of their ToS, including over three hundred thousand banned accounts.

Official Blizzard Quote:

http://www.diablofan...e-net-bans.html" class="blizzsource">

We’ve recently banned over 320,000 Warcraft III and Diablo II accounts that were found to be violating the Battle.net Terms of Use. If this is a first offense, the CD key associated with the banned account will be suspended for 30 days, while repeat offenders will see their keys banned permanently. All account ban decisions are final.

One can only hope that such bans continue, as all of us have fallen prey to the thousands of spam bots poisoning Battle.net as never before and often circumventing such player precautions as level requirement settings for public games. On a positive note, Bashiok went on to inform that these account bans were in many cases thanks to player emails to their hotlines:


So, keep it up- each email you send is less spam for all of us!

And thanks again, interception!

Blasting body parts have been a special and amusing feature of Diablo for many years, not the least of which was the Necromancer's Corpse Explosion spell. Gorier, squishier, and more violent than ever, a similar effect will return in Diablo III, by way of the Monk's Exploding Palm.

If Diablo II had some quirks, bare skeletons expelling pounds of flesh and gore was definitely one of them. Consequently, it should be no surprise that some have expressed concern for such a corpse explosion animation the overriding of the promised unique death animations of Diablo III. Bashiok responded, in his usual borderline-trolling sort of way*:

*But you know we love you, anyway

Charms were all the rage with the release of Lord of Destruction, but their appearance in the series may be short-lived. Bashiok discussed the Diablo III team's current dilemma with incorporating them in the latest addition of the Diablo saga:

Shrines have been around since the olden days of yore (you know, when Diablo launched), and we've been exploiting them for all they're worth ever since. Doing an experience run? Snag the increased experience shrine! Teleporting through a drab cave and need some more fuel? Grab up that mana shrine! Little has been confirmed as far as shrine types for Diablo III so far, but today we might now have a further glimpse in to their functionality, and it looks like fun!

Official Blizzard Quote:

Shrine buffs apply to the entire party as long as they're in range.

This sounds like a big asset to forming parties in-game, and to keeping everyone together so everyone gets the shrine bonuses. It could also mean each individual party member, regardless of ability, is even more important, since each party member has the opportunity to host a different shrine effect, much like the
Paladin did in Diablo II with auras. One can only wonder if they'll stack!

Bashiok also elaborated on a possible replacement for inventory clutter:

Official Blizzard Quote:

As far as "power-up orbs" it's something I thought of as well, which usually means the designers thought of it a year+ ago. Not as a shrine replacement though, but as a replacement for buff scrolls/elixirs. I just either forget to use them or let them sit afraid of wasting them. So they just take up bag space. I face the same dilemma in WoW and usually just end up throwing them on the AH because I realize I'll never use them. Obviously some people are better than me, and able to remember to use them, as they usually sell.

Sounds good- less time wasted managing your junk, and more time engaged in that fast-paced playing experience we've all come to love! True to the Diablo way and a welcome change in many ways.

DiabloFans recently upgraded to a more powerful, dynamic, and feature-rich forum software called IP Board. This was done to improve site functionality, to offer members better ways to socialize, to make DiabloFans better suited to future upgrades, and to bring us up-to-speed with other Curse network sites. Unfortunately, as with anything new, there are little glitches, stylistic errors, and missing features from vBulletin. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please report them in this thread, and staff members who are able, or other members, will try their best to resolve, fix, or answer anything you might ask about.

In addition, many posts may look a bit odd due to differently-functioning BB code, and some members have found that they cannot post in some, or all, areas, resulting in some temporary inconvenience. It is all being worked on. Patience and input are the best ways to ease DiabloFans into the future. Once again, please reply here with any questions, comments, or concerns.

-DiabloFans Staff

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EDIT: I believe the issue where some users could not psot was a Usergroup issue that should have been resolved. If you still cannot post, PM me.

~Sixen

While playing on the newly-reset ladder of Diablo II, it was not long before the Hellforge was upon me. From my childhood, I distinctly remembered unfounded superstitions surrounding the drops, things like: "Repair the hammer! Repair the hammer!" and "Kill some more monsters first!" Knowing better now that I'm past those years, I gathered concrete absolution about myself and whacked Mephisto's soulstone into oblivion.

Or was it? My superstitious notions of gameplay quickly returned when I got a Thul rune.

Not surprisingly, such irrationality continues to this very day, nearly ten years since the game's launch. Repair-the-hammer is a common, but needless, practice whenever I'm involved in a forge-paid rush, but it is by no means the last. In this article, I will lay out a few that seem most popular to me, and some famous ones that are now in the past.


Moar Cows!

It might be good to start with one of the most bizarre features of Diablo II and work outward from there. With that in mind, the journey for shibboleth starts in the Moo Moo Farm (or Secret Cow Level, whichever you prefer).

Experience, drops, insane cattle swinging monstrous poles tipped with blades bigger than a human head- it's little wonder the sideshow has remained popular even to this day, and if there is a way to produce more of these kooky cows, all the better.

The legend is that manipulating pieces of the Horadric Cube formula to open the mystic gateway to cow country, which includes Wirt's Leg and a tome of Town Portal scrolls, can cause more cows to spawn and better drops to ensue. The main three ways of doing this are:

• Filling the sockets of a socketed Wirt's Leg with desirable gems or other socketables.
• Repairing Wirt's Leg, much like the Hellforge Hammer.
• Using a full Town Portal tome.

In addition, it is rumored that the Chat Gem can affect cow quantities and riches, as per a response from the server when the button is mashed enough times, responding back with a nice long "Moo[insert o's here]!" To date, I have not been able to replicate a successful response of this kind since 1.10.


Make it Where?

http://diablofans.co...id=1529&thumb=1

It's common knowledge that many of the most powerful items in the game, runewords, can also be incredibly expensive to make; just look at Infinity- that's four high runes! Each time you make a runeword, you take a gamble: either you spend expensive and rare runes and end up with optimal attributes, or you end up with very, very terrible ones, a disquieting and disheartening result.

When the stakes are high, players want to be sure they have the best odds. Sometimes, that can translate into an interesting urban legend.

The idea is that in order to have the highest chances of getting the best randomized attributes for a runeword, a player must complete the runeword in the most extreme areas of the game, namely Hell mode and usually in Act V. Some have argued that areas with high iLevels, such as the Worldstone Keep or various other dungeons in various acts (like the Pit in Act I), can affect runewords.


Just Click it One More Time...

http://www.diablofan...id=1528&thumb=1

It's "working as intended," they say. It's featured on the official Diablo III website. It's settled itself cozily between the chat and game list areas in Diablo II's GUI for nearly a decade. But what does it do?

The lack of a known purpose has led to, among some, a religious fanaticism for a number of things:

• Getting the Perfect Gem Activated state improves gem drops.
• Getting the Perfect Gem Activated state improves chances of finding a Gem Shrine.
• Activating the Mooooo! state increases the number of Hell Bovines or the drops of monsters in the Secret Cow Level.
• Garners better drops from bosses when the Perfect Gem Activated state occurs.

Numerous Diablo fansites have done excellent studies of the chat gem, including statistical analysis of the various rumors when states are activated, and even to this day, questions and rumors abound. For more, see Chat Gem Through the Ages.


And those are just a few of the crazy ideas floating around teh internets and Battle.net. Have any interesting ones of your own? Do any of these seem plausible? Are they possible? As is the saying, there's a bit of truth in everything, even legends.

The reset has only just begun and we're already seeing some significant progress with home-grown guilds. To keep the collective DiabloFans community, and the rest of the web, up-to-date wth fun activities, chances for competition, and our willingness to support gamer-made and gamer-played clans fresh with the Ladder season, here are just a few recent highlights:

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From Brotherhood of Destruction (see also Welcome Home, Clans), leader Nektu promises an Iron Man competition for members this coming Thursday, in addition to the regular business of the clan:

Quote from "Nektu" »

As far as upcoming events, our members are always holding Games of the week where they can get together with other members and MF, rush new characters and whatever else.

Future plans include regular Iron Man competitions as well as guild-wide Uber and key run games. If you're interested in signing up, or want more information, contact Nektu on the boards.

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[/hr]

Fallen Angels, which began recruiting on DiabloFans in June of 2009, will be running an event called Find a Friend, aimed at increasing the guild's roster. The event will start at 10:30 PM EST this coming Thursday. Contact FA's leader, IceBlade, or see the clan's official website for more.

Quote from "IceBlade" »

The main purpose is to recruit new people into our ranks but it's also just to help out the community. We'll be offering free rushes and free leveling to lower-leveled characters in the hopes of finding fun people to play with.

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[/hr]

The Sons of Ohr (see also Sons of Ohr interview) are not lost in the struggle for membership, boasting sixteen recorded members so far in their roster. They will be hosting their second Ironman Derby, details to come, after the success of its predecessor. Keep up-to-date with developments on SoO events through their event scheduling thread, or contact SoO's leader, Jetrall.

Last week, a formerly, and amazingly, unknown entity to many of us in the staff made good on our recent [B]decision[/B] to highlight guilds and clans across the Diablo franchise. Guild Medieval, like [B]Clan Tysan[/B], is founded in years of experience, opening its proverbial doors to the annals of Battle.net in 2001, for many the beginning of a golden age in Diablo II online:

Quote from "Philly »

[...]our founder [B]Agravane[/B], thought that there would be a better place away from the public games, where trust and [B]friendship [/B]could evolve, somewhere to play where the public rush for the drop doesn?t happen, drops? are shared via rotas, so everyone is equal in the game. I suppose we have survived because of the people who work daily for the Guild their [B]strength of character[/B] makes people feel [B]welcome [/B]and comfortable, each member is known to those who play on the same realm, so the member doesn?t feel like a number, he is one of us, our members feel they belong to a select group and are proud to state that, we are unique in todays game in the respect that we are anti anything to do with cheating, [B]call it old fashioned, but our longitivity speaks for itself[/B']. Once you join Gm, you never leave.

Medieval has searched far and wide over its many years, a clan which plays on nearly every realm but Asia, looking for "like minded individuals who would benefit from our friendly forums and to enhance us as a Guild." Altruistic goals such as they have enforced for nigh unto a decade can attest to the pervasiveness of selflessness in the guild:

Quote from "Philly" »

The whole concept of Guild Medieval is built around the Knights of old, honour, trust and unswerving loyalty, imagine the Knights of the round table, honest, brave, polite and there to assist anyone in dire times.

The effect has obviously been a good one, as the guild enters its ninth anniversary this coming May, but that isn't the end of the story. In order to imbibe new members into their clan culture, and in order to keep order, the guild has adopted a strict-yet-strategic hierarchy:

Quote from "Philly" »

The ranking system follows on from the Guilds name; call it a theme, a Guild associated with the noble Knights of old must have a system to differentiate between new members, full members and officers. A Squire is a new member, he is a Squire for a period of time that allows him to get to know us and us him, we have a voting system where comments either positive or negative can be posted and acted upon. Each Squire is allocated to a Knight Templar who is his ?buddy? within the game and first call with questions and answers. Each realm will usually have several Kt?s, these are controlled by the Lords or Lady?s who would then report to the Realm Leader. It is a very effective system.

However, that is not to say that Guild Medieval has not faced its giants. As with any guild, endurance and vitality are only one part of the picture. The struggle for power can be an insidiously attractive vice for any leader, and further miscommunication can be ruin:

Quote from "Philly »

Over the years we have had some very strong characters within the Guild, exceptional at their role as an officer, unfortunately as with all online games and forums battles of wills come about, people feel very strongly about their beliefs and leave to form their own Guild. The loss of exceptional individuals and the void created by the loss I would say has been our biggest challenges. That doesn?t happen now, the structure is more controlled and all issues are expected to be sorted in private or via a mediator (Kt, lord, leader). [B']Strength of the individual?s talents can at times cause opposite thoughts.[/B]

Guild Medieval now supports other games than Diablo, but Philly states that its siring game will forever be its hallmark:

Quote from "Philly »

Diablo was THE game at the time of creation, the love of the game and the sadness of the public gaming side of things was the major factor. [B]Games are added by request from members[/B], currently we have added Dungeons and Dragons online and it is brilliant, two to three new members per day. We have the Wow side of things, but it is a different animal to D2 and DDO in regards to forum usage, so unless you play the game you hear very little in regards to that game. [B]We have added and dropped games in the past due to lack of participation[/B] and to clear up the forum boards. Sacred, NWN?s, all decent games in their own right, but [B]the longetivity of Diablo rises above them all[/B'].

The guild's hope in Diablo III is to be expected of one that supports a very, very old game and dedicated but aging member base. They remain optimistic of the future, and Philly states, "[W]e expect, and hope that when D3 does eventually come out that we will see a major influx of new members. Also a lot of existing members who have drifted off to other games will come back, we are expecting to be very busy."

Philly's, and Guild Medieval's, advice to new and hopeful guilds and clans is full of nuggets of wisdom which I can personally say work. Some of them we use for our own staff choices. But how can one possibly distill a near decade of wisdom in to a few brief sentences, let alone a single page? Philly tries his best, and the advice is simple but pivotal:

Quote from Philly »

Too numerous to mention, the bigger the realm becomes the more work it becomes, you are expected to be available at all times, to have all the answers, to sort any conflicts, one person can?t do it alone, so delegation is important, don?t just delegate to your friend, delegate to someone who can actually do the job you have in mind, a Guild is only as strong as its newest member, your day to day actions determines if you ever have an new members. Listen to them, get to know them and become friends, most of the officers on my realm I recruited, I have seen how they react in a situation prior to recruitment so I have a good idea if they are officer material. [B]We run the Guild like a business, it is important to us and our members, so we have to work hard to ensure they enjoy their time with us, as without them, we the same as any Guild, is an empty shell with untapped potential.[/B]

Have a reason, don?t just make a Guild on a whim, give it a reason for its existence and stick to it, adapt as time progresses, but stay to the core reason for creation.

You have to put in the work, long hours sat simply sorting issues is going to happen, many nights officers have logged on, been on for hours and not once entered a game, it is hard work, but if you believe in the Guild you are trying to create, it is very rewarding.

And that's that. See Guild Medieval's [B]official website[/B] for details, membership, their board, and much more.

The female version of the Witch Doctor is now viewable from the official Diablo III site!



With the unveiling of the female Witch Doctor, we also got a little more information on exactly how the Witch Doctor plays. With the controversy of whether or not the Witch Doctor is replacing the Necromancer of Diablo II (Blizzard has already said he is not but some beg do differ), we got one more morsel of information showing how he is not. A user on Battle.net asked if the Witch Doctor's pets were going to be similar to the Necro's in the sense of being a zoo keeper. Basically, you keep your pets alive while they kill everything. You toss out a spell (curse) or two and then just res more skeletons. Another user commented on the Witch Doctor's spell Fetish Army, adding to this idea. Bashiok responded with this statement:

Basically, Bashiok said that the Witch Doctor's summons are not really meant to lead the fight. Instead, his summons are used more as of a distraction so that the Witch Doctor is free to cast some Firebats, Soul Harvest, Plague of Toads, Skull Flame or the many other offensive skills at his disposal (See Here).

While the Witch Doctor does have quite a few summons, it looks like these summons such as the Gargantuan and Zombie Charger will not be a huge offensive force like the Necro's legion of Skeletons, Mages and Revived monsters. In my opinion, the Witch Doctor's summons act more like the Druid's summons. Where the Zombie Dogs are equal to his wolves and the Gargantuan acts similar to the Grizzly. While nice companions, anyone who has played a summon Druid (my favorite class build) knows that these pets were not strong enough on their own. They needed the character to be in the action with them. Either mixed with shapeshifting or elemental, the Druid had to continue to fight along with his pets.

This difference once again helps differ the Witch Doctor with the Necromancer, possibly leaving room for his return in an expansion.

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Also, Bashiok updated us on the time of the Ladder Reset tomorrow:

Thanks to Marshall for spotting this!

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/Written by ScyberDragon

Not too long ago, Blizzard updated its Twitter feed with some new fan art on their official non-official artwork page. It included a dark, new piece of the female Witch Doctor by Robert Mangano, a colorful but insidious view of the [WIKI2=Greater_Mummy]Unraveler[/WIKI2] from Diablo II by Saturne Mezzasalma, and an epic scene of the female Wizard duking it off with the Undead with her magic blades by Nathan Hardcastle:



On the local front, DiabloFans has seen some more fantastic home-grown fanart posted by talented members in our Fan Art forum, including work by shibblicious, Tepes, and many others.

Over the last few weeks, DiabloFans has been slowly but surely rising to the challenge of clan and guild support for our gamer member base. Beginning this month, DiabloFans will [B]support[/B] able and promising clans sprung through our community with forum space and privileges to help gaming culture prosper. Hoping to shed light on the old and the new to inspire and edify hopeful leaders, we have posted interviews for a long-standing Blizzard-based clan, [B]Tysan[/B], and a more recent one by one of our own, the [B]Brotherhood of Destruction[/B].

Now we jump back to the local scene with [B]Sons of Ohr[/B], a loosely-nit guild vying for new members with events already in the agenda, including an Ironman competition this Saturday at 3:00 PM PST (see [B]scheduling thread[/B] for more information).

Guild leader [B]Jetrall[/B] graced us with a unique and informative interview on his driving ambition, goals for Sons of Ohr, and inspiration behind its founding.

http://diablofans.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=55&pictureid=1470&thumb=1

For a more complete picture of what the establishment of Sons of Ohr means for many from our years-old community, it may be helpful to look in to the past of its founder, Jetrall, himself a member from the fog of DiabloFans 2006, a time of chaos and community. Personally asked by a previous administrator, Umaro, to work on the technical areas of the site, he was made a moderator, and only a day later, an administrator, to better facilitate his line of work. Since then, he has contributed to DiabloFans in many ways, such as a major site redesign, Carbon Fibre, in summer of 2008 (with the indispensable help of [B]Atrumentis[/B]) and his tweaking of the latest design when it was [B]introduced[/B] by Curse powers-that-be in August of 2009.

Returned to us after a five-month hiatus on personal matters, he's back at full steam as a moderator once more. His return did not only bring more talent back to the DiabloFans staff team, but also some fire to mix with the blaze gathering in our [B]Guilds and Clubs[/B] forum. When asked what spurred him to found a guild only days after returning in full force to DiabloFans, he revealed some key components of the Sons of Ohr way (see bolded sections):

Quote from "Jetrall »

I think the first big thing that prompted my decision was the realization that, after not playing Diablo II for almost two years, I had basically no contacts on Battle.net, anymore. [B]Having a group of friends you can count on is an integral part of multiplayer gaming[/B], from my experience. With that in mind, I knew that [B]I needed something that would fit a busy schedule and would be very open and non-exclusive[/B]. I didn't want to have to devote all my time to the guild or to the game. [B]I figured there were probably others out there like me: people without the time to deal with traditional guilds and needed something different.[/B'] Often times the best way to make your concept a reality is to do it yourself. So I did.

However, his desire to see a comfortable but competent clan take on the DiabloFans scene comes from more than even that. True to the spirit which drives many dedicated regulars to keep up-to-date with DiabloFans, its [B]forum board[/B], and our [B]Wiki[/B], he claims that "seeing the breath of life come back into the guilds forum tugged at the strings of nostalgia" for him. Little wonder, when one considers his role in an age-old guild of DiabloFans now wrapped in legend, the Silver Inferno Crusading Knights, or SICK as it is popularly called. Now gathering dust in a defunct [B]archive forum[/B], it was once the backbone of the DiabloFans active gaming community. The times he shared with SICK were not lost on him:

Quote from "Jetrall" »

Silver Inferno Crusading Knights (SICK) was a huge influence for me in terms of what a guild can strive to be. My experiences with that group, years ago, when it was still active here (on what was then Diablo3.com) helped me understand the social structure of a guild and the potential for what a motivated group of friends can achieve.

Even to this day, the acronym SICK brings to mind both good and bad memories, of both the guild's epic golden days and its slow death. Speaking of acronyms, Jetrall continued to tell us what inspired the name of his new guild, one which we hope will live on to similar grandeur, and one which shares more in common with SICK than one might think at first glance:

Quote from Interview »

[B]DiabloFans[/B]: How did you think up the name Sons of Ohr? Does it have any special significance?

[B]Jetrall[/B]: I was wondering when someone was going to ask me where that comes from. Originally, part of the concept for the guild was going to be a backstory;[B] a mythos that involved a religion (sound at all familiar?) bent on destroying evil in the name of a holy light-force.[/B]

"Ohr" is actually the Hebrew word for "light", so "Sons of Ohr" really means "Sons of Light". This seemed like a good choice, simultaneously delivering the mysticism I was looking for and acknowledging my cultural heritage. While the mythos idea was eventually scrapped, the name that I developed stuck.

With the innate strength of the guild's name comes the dual-importance of its logo. The forging of a guild's banner and logo should not be taken lightly; it is the face that goes before its members for its lifetime. Sons of Ohr is no exception, and imbued in its logo are symbols that inspire and encourage the avid Diablo player in the often mirthless channels and runs of Diablo II games:

Quote from Interview »

[B]DiabloFans[/B]: Your logo is quite sexy. Are the elements involved in it random or do they have intrinsic meaning?

[B]Jetrall[/B]: Why thank you.

The symbolism in the logo is pretty simple, I think. [B]The shield represents strength of character and fortitude while the wings represent charity and a sense of weightlessness[/B] (the idea that the guild is not going to be heavy-handed or crush your schedule). That sort of thing.

Weightlessness, indeed, when one considers the segue to the next part of the interview: Sons of Ohr's interesting take on member allowances. Many clans and guilds across the Diablo realms require members to adhere to strict naming conventions, and reside in specific realms, if not channels, and even specify if members are allowed to be Softcore, Hardcore, Ladder, or Non-Ladder-only. SoO shuns such restrictions, but Jetrall also wisely acknowledges such freedom's possible pitfalls:

Quote from "Jetrall" »

I mentioned earlier trying to be flexible and non-exclusive. I think this is something few guilds manage to achieve - which is both a blessing a curse if you really look at it. While the notion of acceptance is very appealing to some people - especially those who may not always fit into a more common mold - there are also those that are skeptical. Some people may be put off by the idea of having to work around schedules that are very different from their own or having to deal with others' play styles. Still, I think that feeling of community we're trying to inspire will start to catch on sooner than later.

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To keep members involved and attract prospective ones, Jetrall is doing his best to try innovative ways of posting guild news and history, such as the Sons of Ohr Wiki page. The upcoming [B]Ironman competition[/B] is also a part of his initiative, one of what he claims his many ideas to spark Sons of Ohr to victory in the long-haul.



How fitting, then, that Sons of Ohr is based on a game that has, itself, been around for the long haul. Diablo II is nearing its decade anniversary, yet Jetrall draws courage from its endurance:

Quote from "Jetrall" »

The game has stood the test of time. I think that's something to strive for myself and to look at with confidence. When you're part of something that never seems to quit, it gives you that little boost to keep going yourself, you know? Hopefully we'll still be here when Diablo III comes out.

So, there you have it: another fledgling clan getting ready to spread its wings and soar through DiabloFans history. For more information about Sons of Ohr, contact [B]Jetrall[/B] or see any of the SoO threads in the [B]Guilds and Clubs[/B] forum. Stay tuned for more on the clan front as DiabloFans interviews on- and off-site leaders around the web!