Quote from Daemaro
Yeah the demon hunter wings... HNNNNGGGH.
I think I'll tamper with a barb just to get the feel of the game then go demon hunter. I hope all classes have a effect like the barbarian, wizard, and demon hunter where they go into uber mode. Something tells me they might. If so I wanna see the monk one!
From the Judgehype Press Event skill listing :
- Witch Doctor has Big Bad Voodoo, third-to-last skill gained
- Monk has Mystic Ally, second-to-last skill gained
Even though Mystic Ally sounds like a companion/familiar skill, it could also be the Monk letting one of his 1001 gods empower him. I can definitely see some Über-Mode-skills here
that's him alright! Either he's not really a mini boss, but instead just a random instance area. Or by dying he got sent back to hell where he lives again.. Those are my two guesses.
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http://www.diablofans.com/topic/28938-major-spoiler/page__p__661964#entry661964
This seems real enough.
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Some fans seem to think that Leah could end up hosting Diablo. It's hard to tell since we
know so little about the story and about the way the Prime Evils came back to Sanctuary, but it's definitely a possibility. Please read the whole thing before shutting me down.
Think of it this way : they've retconned the Dark Wanderer/D1 Warrior to give him a name and a background, so he's definitely an important character. In the Beta, Leah says that she's always been told her father was a great warrior who was lost when Tristram was overrun by demons. This is probably a cover-up, considering you don't want to tell a child her father was Diablo's host (more on this later). However, when we listen to the lore in Adria's (whom we know to be Leah's mother) journal, we hear about a man named Aidan/Aiden. Adria talks about this man, and about how she did everything she could to console him. She then goes on to say that no matter where the man's journey takes him, Hell will surely follow in his wake.
I believe this Aidan/Aiden is indeed the Dark Wanderer, and that he is also Leah's father. This means that Leah would have been conceived by a man who was hosting Diablo. I'm not a Prime Evil myself, but you know, if I was stuck on the plane of Hell and I wanted to come back to Sanctuary, wouldn't it be nice if I had a young, healthy and somehow battle-trained body waiting for me? As far as I'm concerned, some of Diablo's essence might have always been in Leah. Perhaps Deckard Cain knows, and that's why he insisted to raise her himself, so he could keep an eye on her? We know Deckard Cain spent the 20 years between Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 researching prophecies on the return of the Prime Evils. If I was raising a girl with some of Diablo's essence in her and I was the last member of the Horadrim order, I think I'd like to keep her close, you know, just in case she could be a gateway to a Prime Evil.
Also, some people seem to believe that the 3 Prime Evils fused into a single one, based on the concept art of Diablo and on speculation. I consider it a bit far-fetched, but with a little goodwill, I sure can see some Mephisto and some Baal in this Diablo artwork, especially the limbs. In the mined data about the final boss fight, Diablo has a title associated with his name data : "The Prime Evil". Not "The Lord of Terror". "THE Prime Evil".
Where does this come in with my theory? We know Baal, Mephisto and Diablo are brothers, Diablo being the youngest. If I'm right about Leah being an excellent potential host and Diablo found a way to enter Sanctuary through her, maybe Baal and Mephisto used this opportunity to enter Sanctuary too, even if they had to fuse their essence onto Diablo's. Hence, this could explain why we have a demon who :
- contains aspects of both Baal and Mephisto
- seems to be based on a feminine body
- has a primarily Diablo-like appearance
Case made.Bonus points for me : we don't know who/what the "Fallen Star" is, but it hit the Cathedral. You know, the Cathedral where Leah was? I don't think this was an accident. We know for a fact that we'll be seeing more angels than just Tyrael in Diablo III. If the Angiris Council (arch-angels) found out that for 20 years, Diablo has had a potential host peacefully growing up on Sanctuary, I'm not so sure they'd be cool with that. The star could be Imperius trying to kill Leah before Diablo can use her. It could be Tyrael coming to warn the mortals of the imminent danger. I'm leaning more towards Tyrael. The star crater in the Beta has blue/white glowing edges, and Imperius seems associated with red/orange fire in concept art.
TL/DR :
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As far as I can tell, the dev team seems to be putting a lot of effort in making various builds not only possible but also worthwile for each class. I wouldn't be worried for the viability of pet-free WD builds.
Also, OP has voiced the concern that summons tend to choose dumb targets, but if I recall correctly, they've worked pretty hard on improving pet AI. I remember watching a Blizzcon panel where they took a few minutes to talk about it. That was 1-2 years ago, they might have improved it even further as we speak.
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According to the elaborate Judgehype press event report (link to WD skills), one of the Witch Doctor's passive skills (Ritual of Blood) will make 30% of each spell's mana cost take life instead, just so you know.
(Edit for link and details)
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Now that you mention, I do remember something like that. Perhaps Leah will be doing it now? Sort of rings a bell, but this isn't recent info, could have been during a Blizzcon panel, maybe even Q&A. Meh, we'll know soon enough!
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For your information, I believe set items aren't a distinct type anymore. They'll be legendary items that provide additional bonuses when worn together.
On topic : has anyone heard anything about Scrolls of Identification recently? Still in the game? Out? Replaced by a relic like the Scrolls of Town Portal? I don't think they have another relic release in store for us, since we've seen the UI and Bashiok seemed to say they don't have any more system releases before the beta.
However, since we won't have to identify magic (blue) items anymore, the need for portable i.d. scrolls is dramatically reduced... I don't think they'd scrap them altogether, and I believe they wouldn't make going to Cain the only option. That'd be against their philosophy for implementing the relics : I've heard in an interview that they wanted trips to town to be less frequent, and for better reasons than just emptying your inventory. They want them to be significant, like turning quests in, or enchanting your gear, etc.
So, what d'you guys think? Scrolls still in?
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From the Judgehype Press Event skill listing :
- Witch Doctor has Big Bad Voodoo, third-to-last skill gained
- Monk has Mystic Ally, second-to-last skill gained
Even though Mystic Ally sounds like a companion/familiar skill, it could also be the Monk letting one of his 1001 gods empower him. I can definitely see some Über-Mode-skills here
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If I recall correctly, they said the Beta's primary purpose will be to test their hardware and their client-server infrastructure. They're going to see how well the game will work under heavy pressure. I also remember them saying that they need to tweak the game's interactions with BNet2. These two things will probably only undergo quick changes, perhaps leading to daily updates of the beta client. Won't hold them back after beta ends.
Also, since the company-wide testing has been going for a while (from what we've heard) and knowing what little content will be in the Beta, I think it's safe to assume that they don't need us in the Beta to help with itemization, skill testing or balance, like most Beta phases are used for. Nah, the team seems confident with their number crunching.
My guess? Unless they run into some major problems like "Oops, our graphical engine absolutelty crashes half the GPUs out there", Beta should be short and sweet and not require much work once it's done. I could see a last-minute polishing phase happening, but nothing too long. Gameplay should already be spot-on for the Beta. If all goes well, release has no reason to be that late after it ends. If all goes well, that is. Fingers crossed!
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Pure speculation here, but my guess is that the footage we've seen of the monk was intended to show off his combo moves. I think it might have been intentional, having him slow and not all that powerful (unlike the others). Look at the Beta B-roll, for example. A lot of people thought he seemed too weak, but can you imagine how confusing it would have been if everything died on screen on top of the combo moves being shown?
We'd be stuck with a major case of "Wait, what's that he just did with the flashy-wooshies that made 3 goatmen explode?" The combo system is going to provide awesome gameplay, but it doesn't carry well to video. Doing some guesswork around the team's character design philosophy, I think that at the end of the day, the monk will dish out just as much - if not more - damage as the other classes.
Since he's one of the two melee-oriented characters, but isn't designed to be as tough as the barbarian (as far as we know), I believe Sir Beardy will get to kick some serious tail.
TLDR version : MONK GO BOOM! probably.
Also : Monk > WD > Wiz > Barb > DH
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I beg to differ. The build present at Gamescom is the 2010 Blizzcon build.
The video IS new. It just doesn't have the new stuff.
And it sure is nice to see the UI in a video, and the actual graphical fluidity of the game.
Edit : typo
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My guess is that, in a classic RPG manner, he is indeed an early mini-boss, but ends up being a common closer to end-game. Remember the good old NES/SNES Final Fantasy games? You'd get that kind of treatment for mini-bosses fairly often.
Moreover, having his first appearance in the game spectacular can make for a great first impression, while any further encounters as end-game enemies can be seen as "Oh, damn, a second TP just joined the first one I was trying to kite, going to have to be careful, they can catch up quite fast if you happen to step in the slowing goo puddles the freaking bugs leave on death. Aaaand here comes a third."
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Might only be me, but I'm kinda seeing Mephisto here.
I don't think they'd make Big D. this skinny.
And the quantity of arms/limbs seems to check out
Edit : this could make sense, story-wise. Considering that Diablo is coming back to Sanctuary, I don't see why the other two Prime Evil couldn't do it too. Maybe the destruction of the soulstones and the Worldstone allows them to enter Sanctuary in a form closer to their true one, hence the amped-up Diablo we've seen in the trailer (with the shoulder-mouths and all) and perhaps this fiery Meph.
...
Oooor Diablo looks like a lady.
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My bad. But that's smart. Love it.
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Source
Note that only 5 skills can be re-assigned. With 6 skill slots, this must mean that the RMB is reserved for a skill. I'm not sure if the LMB will be used for skills, but this might mean it will be restricted to basic attacks.
All this could change before release, of course.