DiabloFans

Quote from "Daemaro" »

Thanks, I think this is a pretty solid theory, and it makes more sense than Tyrael becoming corrupted I think. I mean Imperius already hated Sanctuary.

Absolutely. I have been saying this for days. As you note, Imperius loathes Sanctuary because he, like half of the Angiris Council, sees humans only as the "get of demons." Humans defy the order that Heaven wishes to rule existence.

Even Tyrael only voted to save humanity because he was fascinated by the human propensity to choose order instead of acting under the angelic compulsion to impose order.

Quote from "ShadowGoat" »

They could just do it by percentage of damage done. Lets say theres a game of 8 people. Each person should theoretically take out 12.5% of the monsters live, lets say if one was to do less then 5% damage his drops are diminished severely. Woot, you get a sock.

I would think that majorly unfair to a character whose Aura increases the melee damage of the other 7 members. Or whose curse reduced the cold resistance of the monster so that the caster could do more damage.

I think raw damage is an inefficient way to measure the contribution to a group.

Quote from "XxL2PxX" »

I never stated anything about the soulstones, as for the come theory, I never said Tyrael was the comet either, I just stated that the comet was Tyrael's warning of the upcoming threat to mankind

Sorry, I should have qualified that I was not directing those at you. I was just saying that the mob mentality has been to say that Diablo and Mephisto can't return and that the meteor is Tyrael carrying a bowl of frozen Cool Whip down to save his bestest buddies in Sanctuary.

Quote from "XxL2PxX" »

Have you read the second part of the prophecy I have posted, plus the revisioned version?

Yessir. I see that you believe the comet is an omen from Tyrael that the second Sin War is about to begin.

One thing I need to mull over is "failing luminaries." In what way(s) are they failing? Is it because they have been driven to commit evil? Is it because they so blindly want to impose order that they overlook the damage they do and how it creates the very chaos the Burning Hells seek? Have these folks never watched Babylon 5? if I make a character named Sheridan in Diablo III, can I just tell both sides to "get the hell out of our galaxy?"

Quote from "Daemaro" »

I'm pretty sure it says somewhere else that the items won't be class specific.

Right you are, sir!

Quote from "Bashiok »

From this system it seems [B]quite a few people got the impression that you'll never see items drop that you can't use.[/B] For instance, a Barbarian will never see a dagger that only a Witch Doctor can use. [B]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.[/B'] 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.

Emphases mine.

One thing I note about Bashiok's statement is that he never said class-specific loot would drop for each character--only that player-specific loot would drop.

IF the drops are not class-specific, then your incentive to get mixed into the combat is the hope that people will be willing to hand you a sweet drop they looted and you want.

Quote from "Archie" »

Doesn't Legacy of Blood not just mention Diablo, but isn't he actually in the book for a split second? Right before he devours that praying mantis type demon.

I can't remember, its been a while since I read them.

**taps nose slyly**

Building off my post above, I can't go along with speculation of XxL2PxX that the Prime Evils planned everything that transpired in (at least) Diablo II.

As for the "final gambit" of the prophecy, I think we have to concede to Atrumentis that it refers to Baal's assault on Mt. Arreat. It comes right before the passage describing the surge from the southlands. Of course, it could refer to a plan that comes after that, too--one we have not see yet.

At this point, I think we have to declare the prophesy fulfilled in Diablo II. Each Prime Evil did the job he was best suited to do. Diablo reclaimed Hell through the sheer terror of his presence. Mephisto channeled his hatred for the Vizjeri who imprisoned him and the forces of Heaven into a stall-tactic battle against the hero. Baal headed for the Worldstone to wage a destructive war on Sanctuary.

Now, there are a couple of points I think people are hasty to assume about the end of Diablo II:

The destruction of the Soulstones will keep Diablo and Mephisto from returning to Sanctuary after the destruction of the Worldstone. Since the Worldstone simultaneously sought to shield the existance of the planet from both Hell and Heaven while controlling the powers of the Nephelem, I think the destruction of the Worldstone makes it very likely that the Prime Evils can return.

The comet is Tyrael, related to Tyrael, a fallen angel, or frozen Cool Whip. Aside from the Cool Whip theory, I am not really able to buy into any of them. Sometimes a meteor is just a meteor? I don't know. I just think the idea of "fallen angel" or "guardian angel" from the Judeo-Christian theology is too often romanticized and imposed on Diablo lore. The only reason the angels tolerate humans--even Tyrael--is because of a fascination with their free will. Both sides pretty much see Sanctuary as a living weapon. If Tyrael does anything to save the world, I think it is for FAR more selfish reasons than anyone states.

Quote from "XxL2PxX" »

TDiablo was managing the forces in Hell, trying to reunite the forces, Mephisto stayed behind to delay the mortal heros and Baal went on the conquest for the Worldstone on Mount Arreat

I agree with this line of thought and the notion that Diablo had already reclaimed Hell. As we see in the cinematic after Act III of DII:

Quote from Mephisto »

Arise, Diablo, Lord of Terror!
You are the harbinger of our return, Diablo. Send forth your Terror into Hell.

I think each Prime Evil had a clear mission.

Diablo was to overtake hell again. And I think he did it easily and quickly because nobody saw it coming. Remember how scared shitless Xazax was when he encountered Diablo in the desert of Aranoch?

Quote from Legacy of Blood by Richard A Knaak »

A shadow darker than the night swept across Xazax, completely startling the wounded monster.

Cunning...lying...traitorous little bug...

Xazax froze. None of the creations of the female's spellwork had ever spoken in his mind with such elaborate conviction.

"Who dares?" he rasped, turning in the direction from which he sensed the voice in his head somehow originated. "Who--"

And before the hellish mantis loomed the most terrible of all the nightmares he could have dreamed. The demon's mandibles stretched wide and a single, almost plaintively spoken word tried unsecessfully to completely escape.

"Diab--"

Gosh, I remember the bad old days of Diablo II launch when mercenaries sucked hard. I remember the upgrades that came with LoD and how that made the mercenaries like having a second player.

To that end, I'd say I am willing to play with the LoD mercenary system, but Blizzard shouldn't waste my time with the original concept given to us with Diablo II.

I have also been known to play with these Mercs.

Dang. He never has added the debuff icon I pointed out in the thread where he debuted that pic.

Quote from "LinkX" »

World of Warcraft is NOT on topic, so lets return to the Diablo 2/Diablo 3 map discussion.

Yes, please! I am here to discuss Diablo.

Here's a recap of what we have so far:

Quote from "platking" »

Mount Arreat has been replaced with Arreat crater....

Second, the Amazon Islands have been renamed Skovos Isles....

the naming of the before unamed island of Xiansai

Quote from "Ranim" »

one of the islands near Skovo is an unknown one too: Skartara
Why are Skartara and Xiansai pointed out.

Quote from "Ralsu" »

Another notable change: Scosglen looks very desert-like in the Diablo III map. In the Vizjeri's account of the hunting and trapping of Baal in the Diablo II manual, he says the mages hunting Baal assumed the Lord of Destruction was continue north past Lut Gholein and head for "snowy" Scosglen.

There was speculation that the world of Sanctuary might be flat right before the two pages of WoW O/T.

Another thing I have noted is that the region formerly labeled as Ensteig has now been further defined with Ensteig as a single location and the rest of the area noted as Sharval Wilds.

Quote from "isobar" »

What if all skills are still 20 max, and the 5/5 means the person only have 5 skill points into it. I have seen games that allow you to use weaker versions of your skills so that you don't waste mana, so maybe the 5/5 means he is using the highest level skill that he knows, but it can still go up to 20.

Just a thought.

The image below shows Battle Cry, a Barbarian skill at 5/10. So, I am guessing that we can see max ranks even if you do not have them all.

Quote from "valok" »

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread, take your time, and thanks for helping those of us at work =)

NP. Here is a slightly fuzzy Battle Cry that I captured by pausing the Flash movie and taking a print screen. It shows the Barb at 5/10 in this skill.

Quote from "Ralsu" »

It'll be 10 minutes or so before I have the pics uploaded.

Sadly, my every attempt to convert the video has failed, so I am downloading it in AVI format. I won't forget to come back and post pics.

Quote from "valok" »

Aha! Thanks.

If anyone happens to have a SS of this info would they care to share it?

I am converting the video from FLV to AVI now so that I can import it to Movie Maker and take screens of the frames. It'll be 10 minutes or so before I have the pics uploaded.

Quote from "valok" »

Where is the source that everyone is getting this talent tree information from? How do we know that certain talents will be less than 20 points and not like D2. I haven't seen a source regarding this, so if anyone could link me to it I would greatly appreciate it.

Answered in post #20 in this thread.