Diablo III Community Manager Bashiok offered a slight comment on Talent Tree respec possibilities in Diablo III, health globes functionality, and Loot mechanics. There aren't plans for a Tank and Healer Classes according to Bashiok. Although Talent Respec won't be as flexible as in World of Warcraft, it may offer an alternative. How this will be implemented, is still unknown. It may change throughout development cycles. Regardless, it sounds like a good idea.
Talent Respec
Bashiok: There will almost definitely be some sort of system to respec; however, it isn't likely to be as liberal as World of Warcraft. We don't want to lock a player into a system that punishes them for mistakes, experimenting, or lack of knowledge early on in the game. We also don't think a system that allows immediate, complete, and at-a-whim changes to a character spec matches the feel of Diablo. It's likely to be somewhere in between.
That said we still feel like the desire to play the same class again that you may have played before is still a part of the game, and with some ability to respec could potentially require other incentives.
Health Globes
Bashiok: The health globes are actually, in my opinion, really cool. Playing the game and actually seeing what types of strategy they encourage, you can start to see what they add and how they make the combat more interesting.
I'll set the scene. You're a barbarian, you're in the wilderness and after fighting wave after wave of ghouls, skeletons, demons, what have you, you're low on health. You're out of potions, and after using a strategic leap out of the fray you turn around and seismic slam the skeletons charging you. Two of them drop health globes, but the globes dropped behind the skeletons that are still advancing. If they reach you, you're not going to survive. Are you able to leap safely to snag the globes before they can tear into you? Can you throw out another slam and try to remove the remaining enemies? How can you survive? You have a fraction of a second to decide.
The health globes help to create situations just like this, where you're not just sitting there spamming potions, you're using your abilities and strategy to stay alive. Possibly most importantly, you're encouraged to keep fighting, and not just run away.
With random spawns, random drops, and of course the randomness of combat, the health globes add to creating situations that are just more... interesting, and in my opinion, fun.
On the side of potions, they still exist, but they're likely to be on a cooldown of some type. They'll also likely restore health based on a percentage that's relative to your character. They may heal an instant amount, they may be the old over time type system. They're probably going to be filling an emergency-heal role more than anything though. -- post
No Tank and Healer Classes?
Fan said: They have literally said Diablo 3 will be "first and foremost a cooperative game". Which leads me to believe it's possible they add a talent tree for dedicated healers to one or several classes.
Bashiok: No. Not that classes won't benefit from each other in various ways, Barbarian shouts being good party buffs, etc. but every class is essentially a demon-killing DPS class. We have no intentions to create a tank, or healer, etc. Every class will play their own way, and while some may take direct hits easier than others, it certainly wouldn't define their role within a party. Everyone should be kicking in heads at the same time.
Diablo III having a strong emphasis on cooperative play is really building upon one of the best parts of Diablo II, and that's charging through dungeons with other people. Our focus is on removing the frustrations that existed with grouping, and adding new features that encourage everyone to stick together and fight as a party.
Random Loot Mechanic
Currently - while in a party each player will see their own drops from each kill.
This could mean that after killing a zombie I see a sword drop, and you may see a shoulder slot item drop. Or I see nothing drop, while you got an axe.
Obviously while in a group you're killing faster, and this could translate to an exponentially increasing number of drops with each additional player in your party. However, it's balanced in such a way that the drop % is pulled back a bit with each additional player (I'm simplifying it, but that's what it boils down to). This keeps it from being almost detrimental to not play with a full party, while still giving a nice increase to the amount of drops if you do.
From this system it seems quite a few people got the impression that you'll never see items drop that you can't use. For instance, a Barbarian will never see a dagger that only a Witch Doctor can use. This isn't true. There is no effect, or at least no currently intended effect, to restrict which items which classes can or can't see for their respective drops. It's still intended that you could see an item that your class can't use. It's easy enough to drop the item, ask if anyone can use it, or just sell it off of course. -- post
GIEV D3 INFOZ NAO!( <---Poster from the official Bnet Forums) "I'm sure that in time, every bit of her will be gone and her death will be a mystery... even to me."-Secret Window
World of Warcraft players do not have a Battle.net account (CD-Key). The authentication system of the forums is linked with the World of Warcraft servers' authentication database.
Therefore, Blizzard has a Starcraft II and Diablo III sub-forums within the World of Warcraft forums -- apart from Battle.net.
this sounds good, i dont want total respec but i also dont want to be screwed with a misplaced skill.
Yeah right now I'm playing a barb with concentrate as my main skill, but I accidentally put one point in jump I felt like a moron >_< But yeah, the skills are gonna be compeltely different from anything we've seen yet
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Hehe, yeah, I don't like total respec, but last night I was playing on West and accidentally put 2 points in to Thunderstorm when I only wanted one- suffice to say it annoyed me enough that I remade my entire character today (and added a SICK_ tag to her name.) Respeccing for a few skill points or like 50 stat points I think would be enough.
Why not simply always allow respeccing for up to two levels worth of skill points? That cures all this talk about "accidentally" pumping the wrong skill...
If you need more than 2 levels worth of respec then obviously you didn't "accidently" put your skill points somewhere and what you really want to do is restructure your character... which shouldn't be allowed. If you want a different kind of character you should have to start from scratch.
If you want to "test" out certain skills before committing to them, then you have two levels worth of respeccing to test with. Sounds reasonable to me.
Why not simply always allow respeccing for up to two levels worth of skill points? That cures all this talk about "accidentally" pumping the wrong skill...
If you need more than 2 levels worth of respec then obviously you didn't "accidently" put your skill points somewhere and what you really want to do is restructure your character... which shouldn't be allowed. If you want a different kind of character you should have to start from scratch.
If you want to "test" out certain skills before committing to them, then you have two levels worth of respeccing to test with. Sounds reasonable to me.
I think there are some good suggestions among the bunch as far as respeccing. My personal idea for this concept was to create a quest chain for respeccing. Every person will get 3 quests throughout the game that will allow them a partial respec of their character. Two levels or Three levels seems a bit limited to me. I think Each one of the three quests should get 2 points worth value, therefore you'll have a total of 6 in the end. Keeping in mind that will be Normal, Nightmare, and Hell mode, it should eliminate any situations were people go easy strats full blown at the start, and respect later for a full blown late spec (People that save their points and suffer through the early game should have their just reward I say).
That all being said, it gives people the opportunity to respec partway, cannot be abused continously by a character, and secures a persons unique build structure throughout the game with a little extra wriggle room. Thus, it also preserves replayability. Personally, in Diablo II I did strats I were well aware wouldn't work just for the sake of trying it, like. . . Maxed out Rabies druid. Personally I think Blizzard should make sure that there are multiple avenues a person can take with each class to become successful. None of this Only Frozen Orb Sorcs, WhirlWind barbs, Zeal Paladins, and Revive Necros, and Lightning Javazons to excell throughout the bulk of the game; all classes should have multiple ways to excell within each tree.
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i would like a quest chain that allows you to gain a full respec... that would allow a max of 3 respecs, assuming there are still the three difficulties. im not too fond of the only 2 levels or 3 levels, what if you make a character, spend all your time to get to that last skill and realize that it totally doesnt work with your playstyle. as much as i enjoy replayability, that just pissed me off when making new characters i hadnt tried before in d2. i mean maybe you get all the way through nm in d3 and realize your entire build just will not work for what you want to do in hell, the option to get a total respec would be nice, but with a limit of 3 in total, wouldnt ruin everything. im sure early after release people are going to want to try out every spec possible. keeping with the three tree aspect of d2, this would allow you to try every branch with one character which imo would be nice. just my 2 cents...
Im a big Fan of Guild Wars and find there skill handling system very good, i didnt at first but it really grew on me. Allows you to respect your char and change ur build if need be , and to suit different situations. If its like that, that would be awesone. of course it may change etc.
I am so AGAINST a system like this. Allowing you to change your build on the fly is ridiculous and everyone starts turning into the same characters to fit the situation. Totally takes away any feeling of uniqueness and customization that you put into your character.
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I am so AGAINST a system like this. Allowing you to change your build on the fly is ridiculous and everyone starts turning into the same characters to fit the situation. Totally takes away any feeling of uniqueness and customization that you put into your character.
I agree, with this one. As I previously stated, some replayability is loss when you can whimsically respec at will. Aside from that, it also loses a lot of the time and effort it takes to experience a build throughout leveling as opposed to just getting the end result.
Sometimes the journey is worth more than the destination.
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I personally dont WANT a new skill system. Wtf was wrong with the brand new this skills gives boosts to this skill sytem they just implamented with the last patch or so in diablo2. I just want NEW skills....I really hope they dont F up the new skill tree...
My concern is that respeccing means leveling will take longer and/or be harder to achieve (hence the ability to respec). What if I want a fire sorc and a cold sorc (speculating that's an option)? Right now, one could get to level 90 rather quickly. In WoW, a character is pretty useless until it's max level. In Diablo II, from level 90 on, you're fairly comparable to a level 99 character, so maxing your character level isn't that big of a deal.
In short, I hope this doesn't mean a character isn't viable and/or fun in PvP unless it's max level is reached. They'd be sacrificing fast leveling and the ability to create multiple types of characters in lieu of creating one powerful character with well placed skills (which one could do anyway without respecing, and it's not that difficult).
If they add the ability to redo your skills they would have to make it harder to level. There would be no rushing or anything like there is in D2. I get the feeling things like rushes and runs will still exist in Diablo 3 which will conflict with the respeccing ability as you can get to higher level.. get tons of gear for each build and turn yourself into a one man army.
I had not read the 2nd page when I posted my first comment but yes I totally agree. THATS one main reason no one got tired of diablo. You could always create a new character of the same class....and instead of def aura...offensive..or fire..light sorc.....it wasnt the quests..who didnt get tired of the staff quest in act2? everyone hated that one lol. It was the fact that you could stay within the class..and still make a character that was completly different. If u can say POOF and instantly respec.....ur never gonna want to make that character over unless you just HORRIBLY messed up your stat distribution..MAYBE a quest, to gain back 5 skill points if u choose to do the quest??
Respeccing is good, I like respeccing. It doesn't have to be instant, and if obviously won't, seeing as that would be more lenient than the system employed in WoW.
However, I do not think any one character should be limited to just a few points, or respeccing on just a few occassions. I think any character ought to, theoretically, be able to respec however many times they want. In practice however, there may be limits such as time, money, or both. However a played should never feel that they can NEVER again respec this character. Which will happen with a limited number of respecs.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
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Talent Respec
Health Globes
No Tank and Healer Classes?
Random Loot Mechanic
http://www.blizzplanet.com
GIEV D3 INFOZ NAO! ( <---Poster from the official Bnet Forums)
"I'm sure that in time, every bit of her will be gone and her death will be a mystery... even to me."-Secret Window
Making Controversial points one post at a time!
because theres a whole diablo3 discussion forum on the WoW forums solely dealing with Diablo3, just like on the Battle.net forums.
Therefore, Blizzard has a Starcraft II and Diablo III sub-forums within the World of Warcraft forums -- apart from Battle.net.
http://www.blizzplanet.com
Yeah right now I'm playing a barb with concentrate as my main skill, but I accidentally put one point in jump I felt like a moron >_< But yeah, the skills are gonna be compeltely different from anything we've seen yet
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
If you need more than 2 levels worth of respec then obviously you didn't "accidently" put your skill points somewhere and what you really want to do is restructure your character... which shouldn't be allowed. If you want a different kind of character you should have to start from scratch.
If you want to "test" out certain skills before committing to them, then you have two levels worth of respeccing to test with. Sounds reasonable to me.
QFT, no more than 3 levels IMO
That all being said, it gives people the opportunity to respec partway, cannot be abused continously by a character, and secures a persons unique build structure throughout the game with a little extra wriggle room. Thus, it also preserves replayability. Personally, in Diablo II I did strats I were well aware wouldn't work just for the sake of trying it, like. . . Maxed out Rabies druid. Personally I think Blizzard should make sure that there are multiple avenues a person can take with each class to become successful. None of this Only Frozen Orb Sorcs, WhirlWind barbs, Zeal Paladins, and Revive Necros, and Lightning Javazons to excell throughout the bulk of the game; all classes should have multiple ways to excell within each tree.
Nothing happens to you, but everything happens for you.
6/29/08 - A date you will remember forever.
I agree, with this one. As I previously stated, some replayability is loss when you can whimsically respec at will. Aside from that, it also loses a lot of the time and effort it takes to experience a build throughout leveling as opposed to just getting the end result.
Sometimes the journey is worth more than the destination.
Nothing happens to you, but everything happens for you.
In short, I hope this doesn't mean a character isn't viable and/or fun in PvP unless it's max level is reached. They'd be sacrificing fast leveling and the ability to create multiple types of characters in lieu of creating one powerful character with well placed skills (which one could do anyway without respecing, and it's not that difficult).
However, I do not think any one character should be limited to just a few points, or respeccing on just a few occassions. I think any character ought to, theoretically, be able to respec however many times they want. In practice however, there may be limits such as time, money, or both. However a played should never feel that they can NEVER again respec this character. Which will happen with a limited number of respecs.