Each class with a different system than Mana has had a lot of debate about how the system will work and what exactly that system will be. Speculations on relations to World of Warcraft and other RPG's have been brought up as well as other real world connections for the Monk.
Barbarian
Wizard
Monk
That is where we left off before the Holidays but with the Holidays over, it looks like Blizzard and the Diablo team are back to work.
Official Blizzard Quote:
Diablo: ... and we're back. Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. Have you tried the Diablo II 1.13 PTR yet?
Official Blizzard Quote:
Diablo: The monk resource system early implementation complete. A resource certainly fitting of a holy warrior.
Official Blizzard Quote:
As you may be aware every class in Diablo III will have their own resource system. The Barbarian will use Fury; Witch Doctor, Mana; and Wizard, Instability. We also completed an early implementation of the Monk's resource system just before the holiday break, and that's continuing to undergo programming and visual refinement. It's a resource certainly fitting of a holy warrior.
Blizzard has given us a few more clues on what resource system the Wizard and the Monk will be using. In addition to the "volatile" comment made earlier in '09, we now know that they are calling the system Instability. Going along the same lines as the previous clue, DieHardDiabloFan has started a new thread with new speculation on what the system will be.
The Monk's system has also been hinted upon now, referring to the fact that his new resource system is very fitting of a Holy warrior. With the Monk being influenced by a mix of both Eastern European and Asian Monks, it is still hard to say in what direction Blizzard is taking with this new system. They could also be taking an idea from the Lore of Sanctuary as oppose to real world religion.
We still do not know how either of these systems gain and use their energy and we also do not know in what form aesthetically these new systems will be taking. The Barbarians system has gone from the Mana globe to the infamous Fury Ball system. This was reiterated to a ring look and revealed at Blizzcon '09. It will be interesting to see what shape and form these new systems will take. Perhaps the Wizard's system will be a glowing ball and the brighter it gets the more volatile she becomes. The Monk's system could be a giant prayer bead that fills with the souls of the demons he has vanquished.
How do you guys think the new systems will work and what will they look like in the bottom right hand corner of our monitors?
Thanks to DieHardDiabloFan and Dunhac for noticing the posts. Toss the some rep if you get a chance.
I'm guessing the Instability resource has something to do with not using the same school of spells over and over, or you destabilize or something.
That would be great. No more 1-skill spamming.
If they include a Necromancer in an expansion, they could use resource system like - The more dead bodies he is surrounded by, the more potential mana he has available. A globe of blood
They really are going the extra mile on character uniqueness here compared to D1 and D2
Whereas sorceresses, wizards, sorcerers are usually thought of of using magic but really if you think about it they study out of books.
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And that will be the music playing when he does it.
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imagine a that magic is a giant fabric that co-exists within everything, is present in all things living, dead, neutral (space, or void) and when it is consumed (casting) it weakens this fabric (field/blanket/etc) like scooping jello out of a bowl, and it takes time for the fabric to resettle and fill the gap you made... now imagine that when you cast from a specific element it strengthens it's opposite. so the more you cast lightning the weaker the lightning-fabric gets allowing the uhm... lightning-opposite to be stronger...
conversely maybe when casting a specific element it charges the area with that element thereby making it stronger until there is feedback into your character (ie: Ouch)
maybe i just read too much
Now, about monk's resource i think it's gonna be "Faith" like someone mentioned. Unlike the other characters, the faith mather does not decrease when you use a skill, it only requires a certain point to be used (so the skills will be limited by cooldown).
You allways starts with something like 25% faith, and this faith increase as you use some skills and decrease as you take damage and maybe over time.
Actually, giving all classes Energy based mana would of been a no brainer. Having such a cool system as "Fury" is pure and simple genious.
They could of made it even more complex, or abstract, but it wouldn't of been appropriate for a character that is ment to be simple, and straightforward.
You can see however that for the wizard (a more complex character) they dug out a very unheard of system of "Instability". It's definition remains mysterious since it isn't a very direct term that is applicable game wise.
Then comes the WD. Although he is also a complex character, I think that Blizzard realized that he was such an Alien compared to other chars in the realm of Diablo that if they were to implement an even stranger system, it would of probably scared people away from playing him, or even reduced his efficiency.
The monk on the other hand is something we have seen before in Hellfire (not a good example) and various RPG based games. So I think it's easier for such a character to fit in the D3 roster. The idea is really how to make such a stereotypical character feel unique. Blizz are probably bashing their heads together right now trying to figure out how that's gonna work without making people feel like; "that's just cheesy".
If you ask me, I would f*cking hate having to meditate or pray in the middle of the bloody battle. That's some pussy shit. I would much rather get holy points by helping out group members or boosting myself with the use of powerup spells. These spells would represent the monk falling back on his faith and holy training to make his body an embodiement of his god.
Could be resistance boosting spells, defense boosting, or even attack power. As long as they are not direct attack spells they might boost this Faith Energy system.
Not really a definite choice but it beats the shit out of meditating in the middle of a fucking dungeon. lol how boring would that get after the hundreth time. These powerup spells would of been constantly used anyways, might as well get something good out of it.
The Wizard -
The wizard has two types of skills. One type "smaller" skills lower your instability and "higher" skills raise it. When your instability rises, your skills have a chance of returning part of the damage to yourself and reduces the damage inflicted upon your enemy. The damage dealt to yourself will be a percentage of your remaining health. This is to prevent the player dying from any back lash. Health/mana globes will just lower your instability to allow you to continue casting high spells.
This system will force the player to use a variety of skills yet be able to constantly attack with no mana limits. You can constantly spam skills but at some point you will have to use lower spells to lower your instability.
Lore wise it makes sense because the Wizard is exhausting themself to cast these spells and causing the to get "sloppy" with continual use.
Looks wise, the Wizard will have a "purple" arcane globe on their screen. The more unstable they get, the brighter this globe grows, signaling to you that you need to use skills to lower it. If a spell does back fire, then the globe will go back to the dull setting, allowing you to build it up again.
Monk -
The Monk's energy will be similar to that of the Death knight in WoW. His skills will each take a certain type of energy to use. For example, a damage spell takes a damage energy, a defensive skill takes a defensive energy. You will start off with this energy (maybe four offense and two defense) I'll call them prayer beads and will expend these to cast your spells. After a short time, after using them, they will automatically replenish. Along with these certain types of energy, the Monk will also build up his holy energy "faith". This faith is built up by using the skills that take the other energy source. Health/Mana Globes can either replenish a prayer bead or add to your faith.
What this system does is get the action started right away. The monk will go into any fight ready to cast some spells. He will be able to do both offensive and defensive abilities. After you expend your prayer beads, you can still fight but with different skills now, forcing you to use a variety of skills. The system is also built in the way that when you are using your prayer beads you gain faith to use when you are out. When you are using your faith, your prayer beads are replenishing. This allows for constant battle but you can't just spam your highest skills.
Lore wise think of your smaller skills to show your devotion and this is why you use your "prayer" beads. You are using these skills to show your faith.
Looks wise, I imagine six prayer beads in the corner of the screen. Each one will have a symbol on it that glows. After using that bead, the glow stops signaling to you that you have used that. You will also have a seventh bead that fills up with your faith. This way you know how much faith you have if you are running out of beads.
This is a similar idea that came up in the wizard's form of energy thread, the main problem is that it forces the player to use a variety of skills, and some people see that as a penalization for using the skill of their choice, why should the player be forced to use some skill they may don't want to use just for the sake of an energy system??
that is the main flaw in this idea, but is the most likely if we pull ideas out of the name blizz provided....
that said, i'll like to say that instability is a lame name for the wiz form of energy!!, it sound like a form of energy for a mad scientist or a potion maker... I'd like more something like equilibrium or something more... mystic??
the problem is that some people doesn't like that idea... (I say "some people" because I actually like this thing)