Today we have the Demon Hunters runed Grenades spell. As always please remember this may not be 100% accurate for what it will look like live. Also don't forget to thank Dokaroth for his help!
South Korea Rating
It looks like this topic will not be going away any time soon. DualShockers has just come out saying that the GRB has once again, for the fourth time, delayed the rating for Diablo 3. The next meeting will not be until Wednesday, so stick around for more information on this.
South Korean industry and media sources (like the prominent local gaming site Thisisgame.com) expected Diablo III to finally receive the much coveted 18+ rating in Korea today, but it simply didn’t happen.
The endless saga (that is now turning into something more similar to a farce) that sees the rating of the upcoming and massively anticipated game by Blizzard continuously postponed by the local Game Rating Board continues: during the hearing that happened today no decision was taken.
According to the Korean branch of Blizzard there’s no indication that something is wrong with the game, so the company is taking a “wait and see” stance, but quite obviously the officials of the Game Rating Board believe that the game requires further time and consideration in order to be rated, despite the fact that the usual waiting time for a local rating is 15 days.
In the meanwhile the fanbase of the game is starting to reach the boiling point: South Korean gaming forums are bursting with comments towards the Game Rating Board that could be defined “uncharitable” if I wanted to write the euphemism of the century. The Korean gaming media is starting to use imaginative headlines that include words like “misfiring” or “dud” referring to the hearings of the committee.
Many western fans and part of the media are convinced (despite the firm denial by game director Jay Wilson and other Blizzard sources) that the lack of any western release date for Diablo III is due to the rating problems in Korea, and some are blaming Blizzard for committing to a global release.
At the moment there’s no word, official or unofficial, about when the rating could actually be delivered. The next hearing of the Game Rating Board is next wednesday, but we don’t know if Diablo III will even be on the schedule.
Class Balance
While it was said numerous since the announcement of the PvP system, it appears as though they still want some balance within PvP. If not directly for this reason, then to just make sure each class is equally as strong.
Official Blizzard Quote:
If it's balanced perfectly it'd be 50/50. I don't know, ranged does have a damage advantage just because ... its ranged. A melee oriented class like the monk has to close the gap to do any damage, but luckily the monk has a few options to close the gap. The monk is going to be beefier though with more defense and vitality over the wizard, ideally that'd negate any extra damage the wizard is able to pull off before getting pommeled. There isn't a right answer, though. It comes down to skill selection, gear, and the players. Everything being equal it comes down to balance, and that should be equal as well if we do our jobs right, and if we don't you can expect some hotfixes or patches to try to make it that way.
Level Expansion
Blizzard is already planning on how to handle the level progression once expansions begin coming out for Diablo III. Both increases in level caps and better gear will accompany the extra content to allow for a continual flow from Normal to Inferno.
Official Blizzard Quote:
Diablo III levels are intended to pace the content, 1-30 in Normal, 30-50 in Nightmare, and 50-60 in Hell. It would stand to reason that were we to release an expansion we'd want additional levels to pace the additional content. There will absolutely be newer and better items introduced at some point as well, potentially even in patches.
Follower Viability
At BlizzCon, Jay Wilson revealed that Followers will be viable past Normal difficulty; influenced by community feedback. Bashiok ratified this decision in digital ink on the official forums. While not revealing anything new, he shared some tidbits surrounding this direction.
Official Blizzard Quote:
When we first announced the follower feature we revealed that these unique characters would accompany your hero on an adventure to save Sanctuary, but that they would only be able to survive in Normal difficulty. The amount of positive support the follower feature received, as well as the number of players who wanted to be able to keep these companions throughout the game -- even into the toughest difficulties -- left us wondering if it would be possible.
At BlizzCon we announced that we had taken that player feedback and were indeed working to make the single-player followers (templar, scoundrel, and enchantress) viable in the later difficulty levels.
We want to share some of the details surrounding this change and what it will mean for the single-player experience.
A lot of us wanted to see followers become viable throughout the game too, and agree they really add something to the experience as a whole. One of our main driving forces in making this decision was the benefits of the co-op experience, and the disadvantage of playing alone in the Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno difficulties. Followers won’t follow you into co-op games because you’ll already have the superior firepower of your friends to help you, but playing alone you’re going to want to take advantage of their benefits. We’ve made the later difficulties of the game brutally difficult, and we realize that for those attempting to tackle these later difficulties alone, they’re really going to actually want some additional support in the form of the followers.
Some players didn’t like their experience with mercenaries in Diablo II. We took feedback regarding mercenaries very seriously when designing Diablo III followers, and they differ from mercenaries in a few key ways that we think set them apart and resolve many issues. First of all, there is no resurrection or cost to your followers’ deaths, which makes their upkeep far less intrusive. When a follower takes enough damage to “die”, they simply take a knee, catch their breath, and after a few moments are back in the fight. That downtime could potentially have an effect on your own survival, but it’s unlikely to create a situation where you’re worrying about them or constantly working to keep them alive. We don’t want to turn what could be a fun benefit into a punishment by making players pay for their followers’ poor combat choices.
Secondly, when you die, so does your follower. These aren’t characters that can hope to compete or continue on without you. While some players prefer to be the lone wolf taking on the forces of evil, our intent isn’t to dilute the hero aspects by adding more wolves to your wolf pack. We want followers to be an extension of your bad-assery, not a liability. The followers could almost be considered automated buffs/damage skills, but of course with quite a bit more flavor and customization options.
We still have some tweaking to do with the followers, including their skills and end-game balancing. We continue to discover cool little ways to improve how each follower performs and the complements the different heroes. Our intent is to ensure players who take followers along find them to be helpful additions to their single-player experiences.
In the meantime, we’re interested to hear what you think of followers at end game and what your intent will be. Will you ever play alone, considering the benefits of co-op (personal loot drops, increased killing speed)? If you do play single player will you bring a follower? Or do you intend to challenge yourself by not bringing one?
(Blue Tracker / US Official Forums / EU Official Forums)
Blue Posts
Official Blizzard Quote:
A real-time clock
We're already working on implementing an in-game clock, and the current design is to have it associated with the mini-map (but that of course may change before release). Since it's not a critical feature, though, it may or may not be added to the beta. (Blue Tracker / Official Foums)
Salvaging and Chat spam
We're looking into a few different chat issues at the moment, and the impact that salvaging has on the chat window is something we feel could be improved. We're considering a variety of solutions for this, but don't have any plans to share just yet. (Blue Tracker / Official Foums)
On screen text display and variations
Great feedback! We'll look into better defining the different types of messages that appear in the chat window through color. (Blue Tracker / Official Foums)
It certainly leaves you wondering why you see these types of inherently 'less flashy', physical skills receiving very little visual aid when you have super fancy Wizard spells (which already feel larger than life) being given such specific changes per rune. I don't expect every skill to be some grand fireworks display but certainly they could up something about those grenades a bit.
I like Blizzard's answer to PvP balance though, it's way better than "this is meant to be a PvE game so we won't bother with PvP balance".
Yeah.. this is one of the things that I dont like, (one of the very very few things) is after level 30... Im not really leveling imo. yeah I can wear better gear, yeah my skills go up more, and I get more powerfull, but I dont get to "SEE" that...by big flashy "YOU LEVELED AND UNLOCKED X" kinda thing, Ill miss that.
but I dont want to judge it yet... if the tier of gear does get better looking like they showed, being able to level and wear that "next look" will be just fine... Myabe youll need a level restriction on higher runes?
Just to many unknowns...so im not gonna say I hate it until I have one level 60.. but it is something ill be keeping my eye on as well.
So people's favorite skill that unlocks at say 25-30 can't be used until late nightmare-late hell? That wouldn't go over well. They want players to have access to their whole toolkit when the game is over (normal). Besides, you'll probably use a different build in nightmare vs hell and of course inferno.
So people's favorite skill that unlocks at say 25-30 can't be used until late nightmare-late hell? That wouldn't go over well. They want players to have access to their whole toolkit when the game is over (normal). Besides, you'll probably use a different build in nightmare vs hell and of course inferno.
Also, regarding the whole leveling excitement past 30 in the couple posts above, what would people think about only having Runestones drop from Nightmare difficulty and up? That way, you would only have your regular skills through Normal, but you still get the excitement of each level. Then, when you hit Nightmare and on you get Runestones to keep everything new and exciting. However, it may not work well thinking about it now - what if someone doesn't play past normal? They would miss that whole mechanic of the game, and it's been Blizzard's philosophy cater to everyone. Oh well, just a thought.
But IDK -- to me it really really feels like that have watered down the importance of nightmare and hell in D3. At least in D2, nightmare and hell you were continually adding new skills points and stats, which directly made you stronger... and this was ON TOP OF finding new gear. That feeling lasted until you hit the 80's where stats and skill points started to have less impact. Now in D3, the only things nightmare and hell is good for is getting the new gear; but that gear will soon be replaced (trashed/salvaged) once you start finding stuff in inferno.
So I guess what I'm saying is: The "YAY!" feeling of leveling in D2 stopped in the 80's ; but now in D3 it stops at 30. I hope they can throw some more exciting "level bonuses" from 30-60.
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Bold and underlines by me.
but what we have to remeber, we wernt really adding anything they we arnt now...
Stats... we added stam, thats it...
now its being auto still, just by itself...
Before we all we did was add talents to 6 or so skills to make 2 a little more powerfull
now all 6 of the spells become powerful with a level
So the same power is getting there... we just dont have to click something. But Like I said, I do fully understand where your coming from... I just dont want to knock it until I try it I guess =P
It feels like people didn't even play Diablo II.
Agree, I try to just skip over the delay posts and just look at the images ^^
That way you'll just get the good bits :>
I REALLY don't understand why a game should be delayed in the USA/EU, when an asian country does not want the game released though.
Just release it here first, and make it available THERE later?
They're obviously locked in a room somewhere, too busy playing Diablo3 to take the time to release an official decision... ;D