Jay Wilson! The interview was conducted Friday night when I received a call from Blizzard. Thankfully, we were able to get a lot of our item-related questions answered. So, without further a due, here it is... I've highlighted DiabloFans in Red the Blizzard in Blue. Monk, can you tell us if the skill trees have been named yet? So far they're listed as "Unnamed Skill Tree 1 - 3". Can we expect to see any more of his skills unveiled soon along with his female counterpart? Also, can tell me a little bit more about the new skill system?Jay Wilson: In regards to the female counterpart, she'll be released soon. As far as exact dates go, I really can't talk much about them. A little news about the Skill Tree system should actually go up on our Twitter page pretty soon. About that, we've decided to remove the tree-type architecture and we are moving into a purely skill-based system. This new system is still in the development stages and if it does not work, we still have plenty of options to fall back on. Right now, we're just trying different things and getting a feel for the few ideas in regards to the skill system that we have going on right now. It differs from the World of Warcraft/Diablo II type hierarchical styles and is more of a skill pool/path than a tree per se.
DiabloFans: Will there be class specific quests in the game? If so, can you explain how they would work?
Jay Wilson: We are still discussing whether or not we would like to include class-specific quests in the game mainly because of the simple fact that it may not really fit in with the fast-paced play-style known to the Diablo series. While this is definitely something we would like to consider, we just haven't agreed on how just yet. However, we would like to do something in regards to character specificity. We are looking into having different dialogues and experiences for the same quest or interaction for each of the classes. Each character will react differently and have different responses for different scenarios. For example, the
Barbarian may do or say one thing in response to what an NPC has to say, whereas a Witch Doctor will treat the encounter in a complete opposite manner.DiabloFans: Back in Diablo I a player could find
Elixirs. If you drank one it gave you 1 stat point (ie: drink elixir of strength, you gain 1 strength point). Seeing how Diablo III's stat points are non-customizable, by a leveling standpoint, could elixirs be an option to give stat points some player customization?Jay Wilson: Well, if we did something like that, we would fall right back where we were in Diablo II. As far as stat point expenditure, we don't consider it to be a very strong customization system. Now, there are ways within the game to customize stat points mainly through items. However, there are still a lot of things and systems that we haven't even shown yet that are going to be new ways to approach your items that will allow for new "customizations."
DiabloFans: What are the differences in the difficulty levels in Diablo III other than just monsters doing more damage? ie: What reason will people have to play through these modes after having already beaten the main story of the game on an easier difficulty setting?
Jay Wilson: We haven't really gotten into the difficulty settings a lot; we're still just working on the core content for the game at this point. The primary reason as to why a player would want to progress through the game, through the several difficulties would be for more of a challenge. There will be also better item customization, for example a Level 100 character in a higher difficulty would see and wear items that a Level 30 character would not have a chance at seeing in the lower difficulty. Said items will also look and feel completely different whereas in Diablo II a lot of times you just had a remodel of the same old items with different names.
DiabloFans:
Resistances played a huge part in Diablo II, but if you were not lucky with gear drops you would get very quickly overwhelmed in Nightmare/Hell difficulties. Can you give us any details on how the system will be changing? Will it replace the immunity system or will they go hand in hand, once again?Jay Wilson: Well, the main reason for immunities in the game was to encourage party play. However, we have seen that some players just want to play by themselves? And that is fine, if a player wants to play single player, the player wants to play single player, we're not going to strong arm them into playing with others. Keeping this in mind, we aren't looking to have full immunities or anything of the sort; however we are considering keeping one-element immunities on enemies. Because of the way our skill system works it's almost impossible to build a character that won't have some alternate skill to attack an enemy. So then it becomes an interesting use of a skill or skills that you may not be using all the time. We think that's interesting and fun gameplay, to have to adapt to situations. The adaptation just shouldn't be realizing your character or class is broken and you have to run away or you need to get in a multiplayer game. Those are things we intend to avoid forcing the player into.
DiabloFans: How will rare / high level items stand out when equipped on your character since you've stated that you want all the items to have a more functional look rather than be too flashy or gaudy like they are in WoW?
Jay Wilson: There is a very fine line between the looks of WoW items and the looks of Diablo III items, and I'd like to call that Diablo II. Within Diablo II there were a decent amount of high-end items that were pretty fantastical looking. Obviously it's nowhere near what WoW does which works for WoW, their style looks great and it works for that game but doesn't work for Diablo. So we're looking to make the
armor and weapons very fantastic looking, but we're not going to have for instance a two handed sword that's bigger than the character. We're keeping things proportional. One thing we do have that Diablo II didn't have is weapon effects, which was really more of a technical limitation back then.DiabloFans: How will you balance the power of an item in comparison to its drop rate? In Diablo II
runewords were extremely powerful, yet the required runes were also extremely rare to come by, or at least were supposed to be. Will there be items as rare in Diablo III that are as powerful from the start, or will players have to slowly improve the quality of their items, through crafting/runes/other systems?Jay Wilson: Throughout the history of patches on Diablo II, there were a lot of updates to runewords and they really powerful from when they were introduced. At one time or another though all of the different item types were the most powerful, like
unique items were the best, or rare items at some point. Our general approach for Diablo III is to make sure that every type of item has a place to be useful. For example, maybe we'll have a legendary item, which is the new name for our unique items, be the best helm, whereas rares will have the most powerful chest armor, and so on. Having a spread like that will allow for a more varied itemization system we hope.DiabloFans: What types of items will merchants sell in Diablo III? Are merchants going to play a bigger roll in leveling or are item drops going to be the major upgrades once again?
Jay Wilson: This kind of goes back to the luck factor with your drops. The cool thing was, in Diablo II, you may have found a powerful sash after killing some mobs, but had no luck finding a weapon. You run to town and talk to one of the vendors and notice some items and a weapon that catches your eye, so you buy it and use that. So we want vendors to be there to assist in the gearing process, to fill in those gaps that may come just from playing with a random loot drop system. You may play through an entire act and just never find a great pair of
boots, and so we want the vendor to be there to offer some ability to fill that gap.DiabloFans: Can you tell us a bit more about how the PvP system will work?
Jay Wilson: I'm going to say no comment to save you some time.
DiabloFans: Will the published books be referenced during Diablo III's storyline? For example, will
Zayl be an NPC? Will different places like Ureh be visited throughout the game?Jay Wilson: We removed
Ureh from the game as a setting to try and get the game out sooner. However, we like including things from the books and from other sources. No promises, but it's definitely something we've discussed.DiabloFans:
The Veiled Prophet mentions beings similar to Trag'Oul who stop the dragon when he tries to enter Sanctuary. Will we see some development of them in Diablo III?Jay Wilson: That's probably a better question for
Leonard Boyarsky. I'm pretty familiar with lore, but you just hit my lore cap with that question.DiabloFans: The games feature a very slim cast of
angels considering the role the High Heavens plays in the story. Will Heaven be more prominent in Diablo III compared to previous installments?Jay Wilson: I'm going to say... No comment.
DiabloFans: Can you tell me a little bit about the[flash="width=20 height=20"]http://us.media.blizzard.com/1901200114/_flash/chatgem.swf[/flash]
Chat Gem before we have to part ways?Bashiok:
The Chat Gem... It's working correctly and has more than exceeded our expectations. And nightmares.Well, there you have it folks! I'd like to give a big thanks to
Jay Wilson for answering all of our questions and Bashiok and Ryan from the PR Department for setting it all up. I'd also like to thank Christian Lichtner for sitting in on the interview. On another note, you can check out our Richard Knaak interview from a few months back, conducted by Daemaro.
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Posted Nov 24, 2009the interview is same ol in a way. heres this to munch on, but wait, not too much now lol. i know they cant tell us, but i just dont temp myself to much with it :P. BUT THE CHAT GEM! AHHHH!
as for the interview itself, props. good questions, ehh answers. no blame anywhere except that im not playing
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Posted Nov 24, 2009...
About the interview. Imo the skill system change was not even close to a suprise and i and many others have said it many times across this forum. If i can get points in a high tier skill by investing in another tree, the trees becomes nothing more then a form of organizing, but the system it self if not but a list of skills to get.
Imo they should change back to what diablo 2 was in sort way. A skill tree division based at the skills fuctions. The skill requiriment aren't necerely bad. Theres alot of game that made it pretty well. Anyway, i hope they develop some really creative and nice stuff cause the skill trees are a big part of the game, at least for me.
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Posted Nov 24, 2009I think the more the better...
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Posted Nov 24, 2009You claim that the attributes distribution in d2 wasn't a major customization system, and i say you are totally wrong.
Every type of build you wanted to make, you had to put the stats in certain places and amounts... It was a crucial thing as far as customization went in D2.
So, we had items, stats, skills.
In D3 we have skills, items, spell runes, and?
I think this is it.
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Posted Nov 24, 2009Reaching max block with chars that used a shield...
wasting the absolute minimum on Strength and put everything else on Vita was very important for barbs for an example...
etc, etc...
Now i know this isnt much. But we cant ignore the simple fact, that if you didnt put your stats right in d2, you would get pwned in PVP, and you wont be as much effecient in pvm.
I know what Bashiok and Jay said, but they didnt mean that it didnt customize anything in D2, they meant that it wasnt enough customization and that they want something different.
If they said they didnt like the attributes system in D2 it dosnt mean it sucked and that it wasnt one of the ways you could customize your character.
In D2, stat points = one of the three major customization systems.
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Posted Nov 24, 2009Dude, when you use a shield, on every clvl, your Dex should be higher than a certain amount so you can have max block which is 75%.
Its not that you only use the shield and you got max block... No.
A sorc for PVP, using a shield, had to have a certain amount of Dex at level 99 which was a pretty high amount, so she can have max block....
"D2 was primarily PvE with PvP enabled (but almost not supported at all)." - It wasnt supported game-wise with some UI's and such... but there is a large part of the d2 community which lived off of PVP... and only PVP. No one can ignore this fact. PVP in d2 was the highest you can get. The most hardcore builds and characters were pvp, with the craziest gear.... All of that pvp dedicated... anyway...
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Posted Nov 24, 2009I dont get it... The Dex is for blocking, so whats the difference... Your just trying to confuse me out of this argument xD
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Posted Nov 24, 2009I'll cut it out lol, stats in d2 are not balanced well so the customization suffer from that. I mean to have a great customization each stat point need to be equal, in the way you don't know where put your points because each stat are tempting.
For d2, to got balanced stats, I guess energy need to add magic damage (add more damage to your spell) dexterity need to be more useful not only for block, attack rating never work correctly... life and strengh is ok, but strengh can add more physical damage and life some resist.
Anyway, for d3, stats will not be customizable in the same way so...
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Posted Nov 24, 2009Yeah, I just throw an idea.
When I said dex in d2 doesn't work correctly it's because it's happen too often to miss 5 hit in a row when I have 85% to hit... I don't know if it's the real pourcent or it's only a fake like many stats in d2... I think it's a fake one because too many time I miss. I make a paladin, before use hammer I haven't any problem and I never put a single point in dex... Level 85 with 20 dex.... Sometime I put dex and I got problem to touch...
maybe a code can arrange that, like when you miss, your % increase until you hit.
After having enough of strengh to wear your armor, you don't have any reason to continue to put point in strengh, I call that a wrong balancing...
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Posted Nov 24, 2009Yes I hope too, but we can't customize it as we wish
Something like (idea) :
hit monsters to increase strengh.
hit many time in a row or doing critics to increase dex.
take damage from monster to increase your life / resist
use your spell to increase the amount of mana (energies?)
What do you thing ?
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Posted Nov 24, 2009A system like this could be possible. But i think those "Achievements" (hit monsters to increase str for an example) must have level requirements also....
Like, only at a certain level, i can gain this amount of strength if i hit this many monsters.