Beyond the Gate - Big Roundup
As we posted a few days ago, users were able to get past the gates into new areas of the beta. Blizzard has since then wiped all the waypoints from users. However some users are still able to get past the gates.
Today we bring a roundup of some of the information that was found in this new area. All the information below can be found in this very quick highlight video minus the secluded grove event and the dye merchant, which both can be viewed below by clicking the picture (thanks to FixtionFXReality) and also the Nephalem Monument (let us know if you have a better video of this event). You can watch the full video (the one right here), or click the images below to skip to a point.
Affixes
Within the new area, we ran into monsters that could have one of three new monster affixes. (Though molten had a little update, we have seen it basically before)
- Jailer: This puts a orange circle around the player, "jailing" him to the very small area. The player can still attack, and even melee if the enemy is close enough. Spells like dash still work, but the jail will "dash" with you.
- Vortex: This drags you back to the enemy that used the ability
- Waller: This places "earth" walls between you and the enemy. Ranged attacks can still go through these walls, such as the monk's deadly reach
Events
These are some of the larger events that could be found. There are some much much smaller ones, such as the scarecrow, which are not included in this list
New Monster Lore
The "beast" lore was cut off due to another event, however, all three Monster's notes can be found in text form thanks to doomscream in this thread
Maps and Map Generation
Thanks to a new and very welcomed member, TobiasAmaranth, we have some very detailed maps of the two new zones. Clicking on each map will show you the basic idea of how each map is setup. Make sure you check out their thread to see what kind of events spawn in which areas. (for example, some events will only spawn in large blocks, while others in medium blocks). There is a lot of VERY good information about both areas in that thread.
Dye Vendor
Along with the extra monsters and areas, there was also a vendor who sold the first dyes for your gear. You can check out all 24 Dyes in our Wiki and check out the video to see exactly how the system will work in game.
Blue Posts
Originally Posted by (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Hardcore Based on Time or Skill
Yes -- if you look at the whole game as a difficulty curve, and there are spots where the difficulty suddenly rises, hardcore players will want to play the area just before those spots for as long as possible before taking chances.But perhaps the curve won't have sudden, steep increases. Perhaps it will be quite smooth. And if it isn't smooth, per se, it might still be difficult to anticipate where the big steps up in difficulty are. They don't have to be at the pause between difficulty levels. Those sharp rises could be seven pulls in, or seventy pulls in. (Blue Tracker/Official Forums)
Inferno
Taking bets on how long it takes for inferno to get nerfed to the ground because it's too hard for baddies to do anything or that it'll be laughably easy and the excuse will be they want everyone to experience it.
Now is the time for tuning. Tuning has been going on for a while, and will continue to go on until the game plays as close as possible to the way we want it to. That should be accomplished before the day of release, not after.
True...but name ONE Blizzard game that was tuned to perfection from day 1.....that would be ZERO
I didn't say anything about perfection. Nor did I say that there wouldn't be adjustments to any aspect of the game post-release.
The OP in this thread was about inferno difficulty - a very broad subject in terms of tuning. How difficult the game plays and how difficult we want the game to play in inferno difficulty are things that don't have to wait until release to be determined and adjusted.(Blue Tracker/Official Forums)
Twitter
Honest question. Why do you guys let all the rampant speculation go on in the forums? is it just to drum up hype? too much to stop?
What would you recommend we do? It's a forum. It's for discussing things people want to discuss, and they want to discuss that. (Source)
Thats fair, I suppose i get fustrated sifting through the missinformation getting to constructive/funny/informative posts.
I'm all for dispelling rumors, but at this point it's really out of our control. Only a release date can fix it. (Source)
that was a lie now I think about it. After release will be "PVP now?" "how about now?". then "Where is the exp?" "how about now"
Good point... :| (Source)
Yes -- if you look at the whole game as a difficulty curve, and there are spots where the difficulty suddenly rises, hardcore players will want to play the area just before those spots for as long as possible before taking chances.But perhaps the curve won't have sudden, steep increases. Perhaps it will be quite smooth. And if it isn't smooth, per se, it might still be difficult to anticipate where the big steps up in difficulty are. They don't have to be at the pause between difficulty levels. Those sharp rises could be seven pulls in, or seventy pulls in. (Blue Tracker/Official Forums)
Inferno
Taking bets on how long it takes for inferno to get nerfed to the ground because it's too hard for baddies to do anything or that it'll be laughably easy and the excuse will be they want everyone to experience it.
Now is the time for tuning. Tuning has been going on for a while, and will continue to go on until the game plays as close as possible to the way we want it to. That should be accomplished before the day of release, not after.
True...but name ONE Blizzard game that was tuned to perfection from day 1.....that would be ZERO
I didn't say anything about perfection. Nor did I say that there wouldn't be adjustments to any aspect of the game post-release.
The OP in this thread was about inferno difficulty - a very broad subject in terms of tuning. How difficult the game plays and how difficult we want the game to play in inferno difficulty are things that don't have to wait until release to be determined and adjusted.(Blue Tracker/Official Forums)
Honest question. Why do you guys let all the rampant speculation go on in the forums? is it just to drum up hype? too much to stop?
What would you recommend we do? It's a forum. It's for discussing things people want to discuss, and they want to discuss that. (Source)
Thats fair, I suppose i get fustrated sifting through the missinformation getting to constructive/funny/informative posts.
I'm all for dispelling rumors, but at this point it's really out of our control. Only a release date can fix it. (Source)
that was a lie now I think about it. After release will be "PVP now?" "how about now?". then "Where is the exp?" "how about now"
Good point... :| (Source)
the hotfix only makes the WP's reset when you leave the game, making it no longer possible to share really (other than inviting friends yourself into the game)
The glitch iself, has not been hotfixed.
However, its clear that blizzard does NOT want people getting there (due to the WP hotfix) and I would not recommend people trying to get back again.
I made a topic about it over at Incgamers, describing how the maps are put together and what their contents can be. Feel free to make use of the information.
Edit: "I did see 1 more event when I played beyond the gate. A gravestone that you can use to summon a trap of skeletons that ambush you." -> He's talking about the Memorial Stone, but there's another in that area called the Nephalem Monument that starts a story-style event like Leoric's Sword, but different.
If the name is what it implies, it creates fake copies of itself? That'd really suck, esp if those copies copied abilities. I didn't see it in the list in the wiki, so thought I'd heads up.
Yeah we've actually fought them before in the beta.
http://www.diablowiki.com/Illusionist_(Attribute)
Pretty cool.
I removed it from the list, but I kept the old page around in case they bring it back.
Molten is actually in this Fields of Misery area. While it's not a new affix, it does seem to have some tweaks to it. It felt like the on-death explosion was totally redone from the last time I've seen it. It might be worth adding to the compilation.
This video does not explain or demonstrate how the exploit works, but it does show you a guy on the map using the exploit to get to the new areas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaoR-BvogM0&list=UUBrMdno_HthkogJrUrRI4Og&index=1&feature=plcp
You see him teleporting from one area of the map to others. You see him outside the perimeter of the map itself in areas that should be blank space. This is obviously the work of a 3rd party program and I for one am disheartened to see that people are already able to use 'TP hacks' on the official battle.net servers, even if it's only beta.
Basically, to me this demonstrates that people will be able to pull this kind of crap off once the game goes live as well. It may not be immediately, but eventually. If they can pull this off, what else will they be able to do or pull off? Diablo 2 is a game riddled with botters, spammers and hackers (ie: maphacks, etc). I don't want that junk in D3 and I was a firm believer that Blizzard could make that happen until now.
I mean seeing some of the damage spikes in early act1 of normal, just think how it's going to be in Inferno lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoCmqz92hd8