DiabloFans

But look at the bright side--Sixen will be doing awesome video content AND in a few years he'll be at Blizzard. How cool will it be to say we know someone who works for Blizzard?! I don't think I could be more happy for you or proud of you. You're doing what you love and you're doing a great job.

You brought a lot of great things to the site: dedication, passion, countless awkward staff moments... Think of the crazy stuff we've done! Remember the April Fool's Day that the entire site was redone in pink, just before the software change? Remember when the wiki first started and everything we went through to shuffle users over to it? (To say nothing of all the work the sysops and Kris do for it every day!) Remember all the arguing over the rules until the current iteration, the terrible idea of making Mephisto a staff member hoping he'd be less retarded? Remember Zhar? (Nothing else needs saying about him, lol.) Remember all these little things? They're things I won't forget, and I think we're better as a staff and a community for going through it all. It sure wouldn't had been the same without you, Kevin

So, goodbye, I guess. Even though we'll be following everything you do for the rest of your life

(PS: This was from my phone; forgive any spelling mistakes or autocorrect fails.)

"Don's always reasonable replies are almost as annoying as Zhugie's always unreasonable ones."

When we were kids, we thought monsters came from under the bed or in the close. As we grew up, film makers told us they came from outer space. Mary Shelley told us they were created in ghastly laboratories. H.G. Wells, H.P. Lovecraft, and any number of abbreviation-happy authors told us otherwise.

But they were all wrong. Very wrong.

Today, we'll examine the various ways the baddies in Diablo III beta are able to crawl out of the woodwork and scare la merde (pardon my French) out of the careless adventurer.


In Diablo III, there's hardly a clean-cut way to look at all the ways monsters spawn. For simplicity's sake, we'll break down monster spawn points into three categories: randomized, or spawn points that occur quite commonly and randomly across an environment; reproduced, where we have monsters perpetuating other monsters; and quest-specific, where spawn points are more unique and often have more interesting animations and outcomes.

This article is not comprehensive. It's not meant to be. But a good effort has been put forth to give you a good idea of where to be cautious when taking your first steps into Sanctuary twenty years after the fall of the three Prime Evils.


I previously said that randomized spawn points quote "occur quite commonly and randomly across an environment." Several of you are shaming because I used the word in the definition, and the rest of you are likely wondering what I mean by such a vague statement.

Well, it's all intended.

This is the catch-all category for the stuff that doesn't quite fit anywhere else. We have environment blocks that have spawn points, monsters that serve as spawn points, crap you click on that spawns stuff. Anything that's not specifically quest-related pretty much got stuffed in here.

To make things a little easier to digest, we'll look at said spawn points in two subcategories: environmental and triggered.

Environmental

It seems the Dead like to squeeze themselves into every crevice imaginable. Erupting from dark, gaping maws in the earth, the Risen wait in secret to ambush travelers on Old Tristram Road. Occasionally, Crawling Torsos are seen shambling from the underbrush, entrails whipping close behind.

But as strange as it is to see zombies crawling from the underearth to grasp at your throat and heels, Tomb Guardians, a variation on the Skeletal Summoner monster class, are even more bizarre.

Passing through the depths of the old Act_I#Tristram_Cathedral, Gothic depictions of the triumphs of the angels and other equally epic scenes can be viewed in floor-to-ceiling artwork. Many of such images are innocent enough, but occasionally the Dead take notice to your passing. In a brilliant flash of violet light and a high-pitched cackle of insanity, a Tomb Guardian breaks through.

Tomb Guardians have several interesting skills that make them annoying by themselves and deadly in groups. They shoot slow-moving blasts of purple-hued magic, their basic ranged attack, raise minions from the afterlife (which we will talk about later in the reproduction section), and teleport across short distances if given the chance.

Now that we've established why you should wear full-body armor on your next visit to the Smithsonian Art Museum, we'll examine the case of the Royal Crypts.

Although not nearly as flashy as the Tomb Guardians' entrance, these Skeleton (Diablo III) still give dragging you kicking and screaming into the afterlife a decent effort. After they successfully reassemble themselves after falling through the crush of stone debris and dry bone matter, two or three of these cadaverous warriors raise their swords against you and your team mates.

More entertaining still is seeing teams of skeletons vault through the subterranean windows in the lower levels of the Cathedral. Seemingly innocent library wings come alive for a precious few moments as magic whizzes, axes swing, and bones shatter.


Triggered

Aside from using the environment for concealment, monsters also spawn from simple containers, like barrels. Levels of the Cathedral and the Royal Crypts both randomly generate loose floor tiles which, when clicked, spit out a bit of loot and occasionally a skeleton that doesn't like its hole being bothered. (Dirty mind. Shame on you.)

Even treasure chests are triggers for disaster. On some very rare occasions, special chests known as Resplendent Chests will randomly populate an area. They're distinguishable by their seductive golden glow. Don't be fooled. Many times these chests come accompanied by a throng of jealous adversaries, waiting to spring on you as soon as you loose the latch.

Sometimes, traps are more obvious. For instance, in the above image (see right), notice the piles of bones around the ordinary treasure chest. Once the chest is opened, each skeleton raises from the dead, ready to assault unwary treasure enthusiasts.

But not even the recently dead are safe to scavenge. While click-happy players of Diablo II might have found the mutilated victim's of Diablo's reign of terror to be excellent sources of income, corpses in Diablo III are just as likely to vomit up a hidden zombie or skeleton as they are to spill some gold or a magical item.

The lesson: Whether it's a barrel rotting away in the ruins of Old Tristram, a dusty coffin laid to rest in any of the Forsaken Cemetery's many tombs, or a collection of urns stuffed with ashes in the Royal Crypts, smash with care--you never know what might be waiting inside.



Not all monsters are reclusive moles in the sodden earth. Nor are all of them rattling in their deathbeds, bloodthirsty for action. It would seem that even demons have dysfunctional families.

If you've read any of the recent beta articles we've been churning out, you're probably already familiar with many of the coming monsters, such as the Wretched Mother and the Grotesque. But we're going to charge on through them, anyway, because that's what real fans do.

Wretched Mothers. Because just when you thought the Diablo III developers couldn't get any more disgusting, they vomit all over your shoes and a zombie pops up.

Apparently, after a Mother feasts on "the remains of cadavers," they realize that their dinner tasted awful and spit up an acidic solution right before your very eyes. Seconds later, a fresh Risen rises (I wonder where they got the name from?) from the mess. These bad girls are encountered on the Old Tristram Road.

And, of course, who could pass up an opportunity to mention the Grotesque in this context? Yes, technically speaking, the Grotesque pictured at the left is of the Harvester monster class variety. The same principles apply.

Beat the snot out of this over-stuffed, fleshy Barta Bus and he pops just like a zit. In addition to puss and some other less appetizing things (if you think puss is appetizing to start with), the vanilla Grotesque spawns a variety of three-pack Lampreys, while the Harvester, a close cousin, will expel a number of cowering, ADD-prone Imps.

Tip: Don't kill more than one at a time unless you know you can handle them all. Otherwise, not only will you take damage from their gory explosions, but you will also have to content with a slaughter of annoying minions biting at your feet. Sometimes, after the explosions, the little guys are enough to wear away that last drop of health.

If you'll remember back to when we explored the spawning mechanic of the Skeletal Summoner (Tomb Guardian variety), you'll remember that I mentioned that they often raise skeleton minions to fight by their side. Well, not exactly. The skeletons are the annoying meat shields that keep you from actually killing the Guardian. Meanwhile, the Guardian shoots its reasonably powerful blobs of amorphous purple light at you, wearing down your health, and raises even more skeletons. If you encounter any more than one Tomb Guardian at a time, proceed with caution.

The key difference between the Grotesque, the Wretched Mother, and the Skeletal Summoner is that each employs a slightly different tactic to provide the brunt of the damage. Where the Grotesque largely relies on its physical attack and subsequent body burst to take you down, leaving its minions to do the rest, the Wretched Mother's Risen offspring do most of the damage, themselves, while she stays in the back to spawn more. The Skeletal Summoner relies mostly on its magic missile attack to deal damage, although hordes of skeletons will soon overtake you if you're not careful.

For the last of the self-replicating monsters, we'll examine a more comical case: the wandering Crawling Torso.

One-half of its legged progenitor, the Walking Corpse, the Crawling Torso appears when its original body is re-killed (zombies, remember?), rising again, like an inglorious phoenix, to slay its enemy.

The Crawling Torso isn't so much a deadly adversary as it is part of the atmosphere of the game. They deal very minimal damage, crawl around by the bony nubs of their finger tips as they drag their useless semi-arses behind (The Walking Dead S01E01, anyone?), and are generally not a threat. Think of them like Fallen_(Diablo_II) of the beta portion of Act I: powerless filler monsters. For the most part, the Crawling Torso just adds visual variety among its two-legged zombie counterparts.



Last, but certainly not least, we will explore the (possibly more interesting) quest-specific monster spawning mechanisms. Again, for examination purposes, we'll look at them in respect to two categories: randomized quests and static quests.

Randomized Quest Spawning

Part of the allure of Diablo's nostalgic gameplay has always been the unpredictability of what comes next. Okay, if you played any of the games into the wee hours of morning every night for months--maybe years--on end, things got predictable. But to the average, sane, healthy gamer (possibly an oxymoronic phrase), this randomization brought fresh adventures and experiences with nearly every session.

For Diablo III, Blizzard bumped it up a notch from Diablo II, looking back to a feature of Diablo I that made journeys worth remembering.

You won't bump into every quest on a single play through with Diablo III. Many interesting quests are randomly generated when your personal game map is created. And these quests are nothing to scoff at. They include unique animations and objects, and some even have their own dialogue and quest objectives.

Although we're not here to talk about the fine details of randomized quests, we are here to look at the interesting ways monsters spawn during a select few of these random quests.

The Jar of Souls

The Jar of Souls event, which pops up in one of the three crypts in the Forsaken Cemetery, is one of the more challenging feats available in the beta, maybe more so than even the slaying of the Skeleton King. Sitting in the center of the room is a single glass jar, glowing with an otherworldly light (a sign that you should not frickin' touch that thing, but you have to, so you will) set on a lone pedestal.

So you click it. And the jar begins to float, shooting off plumes of ghostly blue light. Another sign that you screwed yourself.

From four directions in the tomb, the dead begin to rise. Skeleton (Diablo III)s are the first to come, followed by progressively denser mobs and more challenging Undead enemies. If you ever played Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, this event has some marked similarities to the final battle in its first act: waves of the risen dead, a gloomy, dust crypt, and a mysterious, floating center of supernatural activity.

Enemies continue to spawn for (by my measurements) sixty seconds, after which the jar's magic subsides and you are free to gather all the hard-earned loot. This event is great for experience grinding, to say nothing of the exhilarating challenge.

The Matriarch's Bones

By far one of the cooler randomized quests, The Matriarch's Bones combines elements of a cute little story, custom dialogue, and waves of Undead minions to send back to the afterlfe. The ghost of the Patriarch's wife desires to join her husband in eternal rest, but her remains seem to have wandered away from the sarcophagus. She implores you to search the area for Funerary Urns, smash them open, and bear her remains back to the coffin.

Much like trap chests, as mentioned earlier, if a Funerary Urn does not contain the remains of the Patriarch, the dead climb up from the floor for a brief battle. If you're unlucky, you'll have to search several areas and defeat several spawned mobs.

However, in addition to spawning skeletons and the like, false Funerary Urns also spawn one Tormented Spirit. These guys have more health, more damage, and are generally more annoying to fight than the rest of the walking dead. Luckily, they're only one per false Urn.

Static Quest Spawning

New Tristram

The siege of New Tristram is probably the most well-known spawning event, especially because of the prevalence of beta videos. After some NPC interaction, Crawling Torsos and Risen clamber from the woods immediately to the right of the screen. Several waves of these go by, and then admittance into the fledgling village is granted.

But the dead aren't very respectful of New Tristram's ramshackle borders. In the Slaughtered Calf Inn, for instance, we see the development of several villager NPC's into newly risen Risen. Later, in the Shattered Crown quest sequence, the village blacksmith, Haedrig Eamon, also has something dark and nasty lurking in his own basement. His wife (beta contest entry number two, anyone?), as well as a nameless rabble of other villagers beginning to turn, pull a Houdini and morph into rotting husks before your very eyes. I'm not even sure if entropy works that fast on human bodies.

The Templar

When I say the Templar is devout, I mean it. When we encounter the holy warrior in the depths of the Tristram Cathedral, he is withstanding the corrupting demonic magic of seven Dark Cultists. Upon arrival, heroes are assailed by one of the Cultists, and soon enough the rest begin summoning a contingent of Undead warriors from the circle. Don't worry, they're not particularly threatening. Just your average-grade living dead.

But the spawn isn't infinite. After a few moments, the last of the skeletons spawns. Killing all of the Cultists or waiting out the spawning period are the only two ways that the spawning stops. And no, no matter how long you wait, the Templar does not get possessed. He apparently has the iron resolve of a saint.

The Pillars

This battle is something along the lines of the Jar of Souls randomized quest mentioned earlier. Deep, deep in the Royal Crypts, our heroes encounter the Skeleton King's first attempt to frighten them from their objective. After some snappy dialogue iconic of boss fights in the Diablo series, Leoric vanishes, leaving behind the glowing Pillars.

Like the Jar of Souls quest, the dead start spawning from the pillars, typical skeleton-like enemies. And, like the Jar of Souls quest, the eerie blue light in the pillars is indicative of supernatural magic. The dead spawn in a continual stream until those pillars are smashed.

Leoric: Before the Battle

Much like the epic fight with Baal in the heart of Mount Arreat, the confrontation with the Skeleton King is preceded by a tussle with a wave of Undead minions. A handful of skeleton-based enemies raise from the suspended walkways of the deep tomb at the beckon's of King Leoric's ghostly magical beckons, possibly splitting up player parties across the narrow bridge. If not anticipated, they do come as a shock, but since I've ruined that for you, just know that the monsters, themselves, are actually quite easy to kill.

And there you go, a quick summary of most of the more interesting ways spooks can creep out of the world to catch you when you least expect it. Keep you eyes keen, your crossbows nocked, your swords at the ready, your wands. . . well, you get the idea. Sanctuary is a dangerous place--be careful where you step.

I want my Druids, and I want Scosglen. That is all.

After the massive lore panel, it was time to get some feedback from the diehard fans that managed to pilgrimage to this year's convention. Here are the highlights from the Open Q&A; just keep in mind that this isn't meant to be a transcript, so all of it is paraphrased.

Caution: The following may contain spoilers.

Q: You made the followers more powerful for end game content. Will they be viable all the way through Inferno?

Blizzard representatives responded positively, saying that companions will be able to fight adequately alongside heroes through each difficulty. They have done some testing with companions through the difficulties, and although this is a very recent change, they do believe that changes they have incorporated into the hirelings will make then viable in the endgame.

Q: Is Diablo a girl?

The cover art for the event booklet made Diablo look anything but the usual muscular, bulky monster we've seen in his more animal incarnations in the previous games. While nothing was confirmed on why Diablo looked so distinctly female, with the sleekness of the abdomen and the wide hips, they did acknowledge that it was done. So it was on purpose. Maybe there's something to the popular Leah-possession lore speculation prevalent in our lore discussion forum.

Q: Can you elaborate on hardcore mode and how it's different from the previous games?

They mostly confirmed what is already known about Diablo III's hardcore mode: it will have its own Auction House that does not interact with normal, softcore players, said Auction House will use only gold as a currency (not real money), and so on. However, it was mentioned that if a player is killed, other players will not be able to pick the gear from the fallen character. In Diablo II, players were able to set their hardcore characters to "lootable" to other, trusted party members in the event of an untimely death. Unless misspoken, this is a marked change from the previous games. When you die, your gear is gone. Period.

Q: Can fresh sixty players succeed in Inferno, and will Inferno ever be nerfed for newer players?

In step with sentiments spoken yesterday about the difficulty of Inferno mode at the tail end of the Gameplay and Auction House panel the other day, it was confirmed that newly max-leveled characters (sixty is Diablo III's cap) will not be able to succeed easily, if at all, in Inferno mode. It's meant to be a challenge in every sense of the word, no matter what level characters are at.

While they were vehement about not nerfing it for the newbie's sake, they did add a caveat: as they address hardcore, there may be some balancing to account for hardcore players in Inferno mode. But they will not be simplifying Inferno mode for casual players.

Q: Why is light radius not in the game?

Light radius is not entirely gone, and it still works well in some contexts, like deep dungeons, but they found that using the new 3D engine really looked lack-luster when limiting light sources to only that of the player. They really want to utilize different light points to add interest to the 3D environment, so it's no longer a major element throughout the game.

Q: What's being done to protect against botting?

Probably a topic near and dear to any players getting ready to compete in Diablo II's upcoming ladder reset, botting has always been a controversial and annoying issue. Bots served as everything from farmers to level grinders, making the ladder ranking system essentially a hopeless, pointless list of bots outstripping human players. It was argued that the actual gameplay of the game renders botting more difficult to achieve, but that they will be policing it well, likely actively and with more robust security measures. It is also important to them to address spam bots, likely by watching join/leave events.

Q: Will WASD control be available?

While it had been played around with, they ultimately felt that non-analog controls didn't work well with Diablo's very analog-focused gameplay.

Q: Will runewords ever be added to the newest game?

They stated that the new gameplay mechanics and customization options account for what was previously done with runewords. The new, more robust crafting system allows for vast player-generated gear, runestones allow for heavy skill customization, and any other number of mechanics compensate or surpass what was accomplished with runewords in Diablo II.

Q: Can you confirm a console version?

They did not want to officially confirm a console version because they want to be completely sure it's something that will work and work well. They have been hiring console developers to work internally on console ideas, and they feel that it plays very well with the kind of game Diablo is, but they don't want to announce anything until they're entirely sure everything will work out.

Of primary concern is not wanting to compromise the PC version, likely in playability or release (as stated any number of times over the last months.) For now, they're focusing on filling out a console team.

Q: Attuned runes essentially allow for a ton of specialized runes for each character skill, creating a huge inventory problem with storage. What's being done to address this?

They acknowledged that they are aware of the issue and are thinking of ways to fix it. They believe that attuned runes add an interesting new facet to skill selection, customization, and build commitment, so they don't foresee removing them, but there is definitely an inventory issue that needs to be addressed.

Q: What are some of the issues seen in developing a console version?

Targetting skills becomes more difficult when using a controller and not a mouse and keyboard although they feel that player movement is greatly improved. Monster AI seems somewhat different when interacting with the game in a new way. They found that they spend the most time working with controls with a console iteration. They don't want a potential console version to feel like a port of the PC version, but a quality version that plays well as it is.

Q: Can we get more beta keys?

They have more waves coming out after the BlizzCon and are very happy with the feedback that they've received so far. In addition to more beta access sweeping across Battle.net accounts, they also said that a major patch is coming for the beta version of Diablo III very soon. We can guess that this will likely include the skill updates and other changes seen in the beta iteration seen in the PvM demo here at BlizzCon.

Q: What comes after Inferno?

While the team feels that Inferno mode will pose huge challenges for players for a long time to come, they have said that they will add more endgame content should they find that players demand more. There's also secret content, which they have confirmed to be in the game, so perhaps we'll see content similar to the Cow Level for endgame enjoyment. At the moment, they are more focused on just getting the game as-is out to the public.

Q: With the Wizard's cast rate announced as being based on weapon speed, what is being done to reward opting for other items besides cast rate-oriented equipment?

They believe that choosing cast rate-centric gear versus more obscure equipment is entirely based on the build a player opts for. If a player decides to use skills that benefit more from faster cast rates, it will be logical to use weapons that allow for faster cast rates, while skills which do not focus on cast rates, like Meteor, will allow players to focus on more damage-centric weapons.

Q: Will there be more skill slots?

The team believes that allowing more skill slots removes choices and, by extension, build diversity across a playerbase, so they will not be adding more skill slots.

Q: How will RMAH PvP players be matched with PvP players that do not spend real money on the Auction House for gear?

Buying higher gear will cause a player to be matched with peers of a like power level through the hidden ranking system, so purchasing gear with real money will only cause players to be matched against more experienced or more powerful characters. The actual outcomes of PvP games will not be affected.

Q: Will there be more PvP modes besides arena mode?
The developers found that PvP in Diablo II mostly split players up for fear of getting ganked, meaning more players were playing in private games than playing together in public ones. This led to a focus on on a dedicated PvP mode with dedicated PvP support, the arena, and a PvP progression system. However, more PvP modes are being considered, and Jay Wilson even said that they are looking into a dueling option similar to Diablo II, although nothing concrete is yet known and they aren't sure if such a mode will make the initial release.

Q: Will there be guild support?

Guilds and clans in Diablo II were often organized using chat bots and out-of-game online communities. Hope had arisen that this would mean the developers saw this need as enough to implement guild support in Diablo III, but the idea was shot down. They will not have guild functionality available for release, but something may be implemented after release. They saw a lot of guild ideas that didn't get implemented in Diablo II as great mechanics that they want to work on in the future, but they want to make sure that if they do implement guild functionality, they will do it right.

Q: Will boss AI be scaled with difficulty to allow for more interesting and less repetitive battles at different difficulty levels??

They're looking across the major bosses for the game and tuning their AI to be refreshing and challenging according to difficulty mode, but they aren't sure if the changes will be really drastic from difficulty to difficulty or only minor, although they want such differences to be big. It seems to be another question of what will make it into the initial release.

Q: Will players be able to use their skills together in combination attacks?

They have seen many players using strategic implementation of skills, like a Wizard freezing enemies and then melee characters shattering frozen enemies. They think that more sophisticated team play would be fantastic, but they don't want payers choosing not to play with other players because of class choices in certain situations, which they view as adverse to encouraging group play.

Q: Will there be an API for the Auction House?

They have talked about it at length, but it will not make the launch version of the game. It may be added after release. They seemed positive about such an implementation.

Q: With the 12-month account for WoW players allowing a free digital purchase of Diablo III, will there be any compensation for purchasing a collector's edition of Diablo III?

Buying a collector's edition of Diablo III will count as credit towards a 12-month account.

Those were most of the more interesting questions asked, but we encourage you to stay tuned as we upload video versions of each of the panels and keep your eyes peeled for full transcriptions. There may be things that you will find more interesting on a personal level, and with so much up in the air with Diablo III, there are a lot of questions that didn't get answered very directly and were cut from this report.

Sephiroth is predictable? I seriously doubt that many more people can agree with that. He killed a main character halfway through the game, creating one of the most tragic moments in video game history. Aeris knew he would at least try this. She sacrificed herself for the common good of mankind, for the very people that imprisoned her. Then she goes through all kinds of relationship development with all the main characters. And then she's killed. We have a female Jesus figure, basically. That's a first, at least by video game standards.

Sephiroth as a character isn't always portrayed well, but he has clear and distinct motives for what he does. An excellent examination of the mother-son relationship in a very bizarre way.

And the music? I cry to this day when I hear any variation on Aerith's theme. It's a musical masterpiece. It was inspired by classical composers, and it works as a conveyer of story, emotion, and character. Sacrifice, love, and rebirth can easily be felt and heard throughout.

Anyone who discredits it as a vital component of, at the very least, the JRPG, isn't observing it objectively. But it's so much more than that. It's a landmark and a benchmark. It conveys the culture of the time it was created, albeit amplified and concentrated. It responds to post-modern concerns and has clear messages.

Quote from Xerlane

wow... the first picture is really mind-blowing seeing the amount of detail they put into it!

I know! I had a double-take. You can see every pore on her face, and the hair looks amazing. The detail around her eyes... Geeze.

What are you basing the 10% on? What you feel to be accurate?

I agree that there's probably more than we think in the beta, but I also believe that you're overshooting by a wide margin.

Quote from snared04drummer

Honestly it feels like a short demo, and a teaser just to keep the rabid dogs at bay. IF those were its purposes, then I would say "yes, it has backfired." After ten years time, a few measly hours and a magical level 13 hard cap with a CONGRATS YOU ROCKZORZ, BETA DEFEATED! Flashing on my screen after I down the first mini-boss... it's just not enough. I know the Blizzard employees are smart enough to know that it's not enough, but on the other hand, they never promised anything more.

That's the thing, when you work so hard as a company to be continuously cryptic and never get straight answers about ANYTHING until the absolute last possible minute, things like this will always happen. I've never had less than complete faith that Blizzard will make great games (And often awful patches), but they have never, ever learned the lesson of what a time table is, deadlines, etc. It's only because of their virtually endless resources that they can get away with this. Diablo III just proved to be a little bit of a different animal for them, because they have literally put off its release for over a decade. I don't know of any other game that transcends that sort of time frame.

Honestly, the delay is almost certainly not technically based, but about some aspect of their business as a whole. Fans have a right to be, and should be pissed about that, especially considering how ultimately unfulfilling the beta is. But as always, being treated like children by Blizzard, are only real option is to be pissed off and wait, or be pissed off and not buy the game. Just realize that they don't care either way.

The problem is that you misinterprated the purpose of the beta, which was cleary stated by Blizzard on any number of occasions before it even began.

They never advertised it or even hyped it as you described. If anything, the advent of beta was downplayed by Blizzard (although through fansites, such as DiabloFans, it is obviously our responsibility to hype it.) Remember all the fiscal meeting let-downs? Remember all those opportunities they had to talk beta and didn't? They didn't hype the beta. They didn't want to.

Seeing responses from fans everywhere, they didn't even have to. We created our own hype, our own unreachable goals for a two-hour session that was not maximized for enjoyment. I hesitate to even call it a demo, because calling it a demo would imply that they were hyping it as a demo. They weren't. It's a beta.

I could quote any number of direct Blizzard representative sources stating that the beta is a beta. No, it's not a demo. It's a beta. To test for bugs. To test infrastructure. It's not supposed to be a demo. Not a demo. Not. A. Demo.

This is why I think that article is pretty much pointless. I could see a reason for controversy if Blizzard had given us mixed messages, but they didn't. Anyone that's disappointed has only one person to blame: his or herself.

So, when you say that they're purposefully being cryptic, perish the thought. They clearly stated what beta would be long beforehand. They clearly stated that they can't give us a release date because they didn't know when it would be, but they did their best to give us a range because they felt an obligation to their fanbase. Would we have them lie? No, I think not, because then we'd have even more bullshit hitting the fan.

In the old days, Diablo II characters were about as unique as an Arctic Binding (Diablo_II) belt. The prevalence of cookie-cutter builds only compounded the limited amount of visual differentiation between equipment, and cosmetic distinction ended where player biographies did.
Enter Diablo III.

To speak nothing of the tons of l33t loot our characters will gather as they transverse the demon-ridden landscape of Sanctuary and beyond, player banners add as much customization as you have patience. In this article, we'll explore the components, limitations, and uses of banners, and discover how they will let you leave your mark on Sanctuary.

Every banner has three essential components: the base banner, the sigil, and dyes. These three parts each have even more options of their own, lending more player choice to the mix.




If we think of the banner as the bread and butter of your character's identity, then the base banner, itself, would be the bread. But do we cut that bread into triangles? Perhaps squares? Diagonal strips? Rhombuses? Tetrahedrons? After all, geometry is fun!


No. Every banner has a variety of cloth shapes, ranging from battered to suave and everything in between; meaning, Blizzard has gone through the trouble of pre-defining shapes and designs for every banner. Selecting any one of these causes selected banner colors to morph with the new design, at which we'll get a closer look when we discuss dyes.

For more hardcore players, we have option number nine, looking something like a flag that's taken a ride in Hell's dryer. For the more whimsical player, we have option number four, featuring a delicate (-ly whimsical) array of tassels.

Whether you're trying to be the baddassiest Barbarian on Battle.net or want to treat your online persona like a meme, it all begins with the banner shape. Whatever you choose, you will be influencing how other players see you, including your attitude and playstyle.




Think of your sigil like your signature. It's the backbone of your Diablo III identity, your stamp of approval on every action you carry out in the game world. The sum epicness of all your adventures, all your daring feats, and all your accomplishments is symbolized in this monochromatic, two-dimensional seal.

Or it could be something completely stupid and meaningless, like a unicorn. Your choice.


In addition to symbols representing each of Diablo III's character classes, ones that appear to personify iconic Diablo factions, two demons, and a fanciful unicorn, there are even options for the Alliance and the Horde, as well as representations of each of Starcraft II's races.

Just below the sigil selection list, there is also a tickable box called Variant. For many of the sigil designs, there are two options: the variant and the original. The variants often have additional flourishes or other graphical elements that make the sigil even more unique. Example:


What if the sigil just doesn't look classy enough? In addition to the sigil, itself, there is a further do-dad that you can stamp on your banner: an accent. (If you're overwhelmed at this point, take a look at this diagram.) Accents appear just under the sigil, a bit of nonsense to make your personal sigil all the more personal:


But there's more to a sigil than its appearance.

In addition to the rather boring, front-and-center default position, sigils may also be moved around on the banner and duplicated by predetermined options.

As pictured on the left, a sigil can appear as a big, fat version in the absolute center, or in a miniature version in any of the four corners or the center. Miniature versions can also be duplicated so that one is in the top-left and another is in the bottom-right. You can even have four miniature versions in all four corners.




Last but certainly not least, we have dyes. You can stain three components of your banner: the pattern, the sigil, and the base banner. Often times, the color for the base banner will come through as the borders of the cloth, but this isn't always the case.

It should be noted that banner dyes are the not same as the dyes that we see in-game. At this point, we have no reason to believe that dyes you gather for your equipment can be applied to your banner, as there is currently no inventory correlation. This may change during or after the beta, but it looks safe to say that the two are entirely separate.




While there are a number of awesome features that help make each banner unique, there are some things you just can't do. As far as Diablo III is concerned, what you see is often what you get.

For instance, don't hope to position your sigil at any (x,y) coordinate beyond the choices presented to you. Your sigil goes where Blizzard says it goes, end of story. You also can't layer sigils over each other or choose more than one, as seen in the layering feature of Call of Duty: Black Ops' player card emblem designing interface.

Furthermore, the colors you have are what you can use. No fancy color wheels, hexadecimal color code boxes, or any of that modern nonsense is present here. Of course, the twenty-two dye options seem to cover the bases well.

But enough about the details. What does the banner actually do?

Banners appear in a number of places, but they don't always look like waving standards. In banner creation mode, you will notice that in the lower, right-hand corner of the banner interface there is a little square that mimics the sigil area of the banner. This little guy is what I like to call the "banner thumb," much like images often have a thumb version which represents the larger one.

The most obvious usage of banners is to represent characters in a party. In Diablo III, parties remain persistent, whether you're in a game or just hanging around chatting between games. The party leader has the privilege of banner representation in this instance; it billows just behind the party leader, with party members gathered around it. Outside of games, the banner thumb of each party member is also shown on the right-hand side of the screen in a neat column.

The social interface makes heavy usage of the banner thumb. Here, as in the out-of-game party screen, friends are represented by a number of data bits, including Battle.net account, character name, level, class, and so forth, but the most visual element in the left-hand list is the banner thumb. The "recent" tab, which shows a list of players that you recently stomped the forces of Hell with, shows player information in a likewise fashion.

In-game, banners play several roles. Pressing the G hotkey will drop your banner from the heavens into the earth, there to be adored by any nearby players. For the life of me, I can't figure out what good this really does, except to serve as some kind of primeval testament to territorial ownership (much like a dog pissing on a fire hydrant.) Some have speculated that it might be some manner of call-to-arms for PvP, although that would seem to require entrance in a separate arena game.

UPDATE: Negropotamus has confirmed that the place-able banner allows team players to define where their other team members appear when using the banner near the waypoint. Useful for those tricky moments when you know waves of angry Undead will be spawning all over you during, say, the Jar of Souls quest in the Defiled Crypt.

But far more interesting than that is pictured at the left: Banners serve as portkeys to the player represented. A feature inline with Blizzard's focus on getting players into the action as soon as possible, clicking any companion's banner will send you hurtling through the Ether to where ever that player currently is. No consumable items required, and the process takes only as long as your crappy computer needs to load the next area.

Banner Stuff Not in the Beta

There are also a number of banner features that have not yet been implemented in the beta, features that we will likely not get a hands-on preview until the game actually releases. Among these are various adornments to your banner in your character's profile.

A Throne of Bones: Hardcore players get to show off their status with a special pile of ghastly ruin at the foot of their banners. This grizzly marker helps distinguish the regulars from the sadistic thrill-seekers.

Banners for Your Banners: In a redundancy scandal similar to NeoPets' PetPets (pets for our pets? really?), your character's advancements further specialize his or her banner with streamers hanging from the crossbeam at the top.

Whether you're a gear-hording hermit or a player-assassinating homicidal maniac, images speak volumes louder than actions. Your banner represents the core of your character, your online persona, and will go before you as a precedent to future relationships.

And any way to distinguish yourself from clamoring hordes of n00bs isn't such a bad thing, either.

Hello all,

Jetrall here - I'm an old timer, but I've been away for some time now and figured I may warrant a re-introduction.

Many years ago, when this site was still Diablo3.com, before the game was announced and Blizzard bought out the domain, I was a Mod here - and, later, an Admin. I was tasked with re-designing the site prior to the Blizzard buyout and the logo I made still sits atop the site today.

I experienced some disappointment with the initial release of Diablo III and that, combined with a general burnout with online gaming and seeking a degree, led me away for a long while.

I was, however, intrigued by the Diablo IV trailer and it got me reminiscing. I figured, if I wanted to stay up to date on the series and see where D4 is heading, it would make sense to come back and keep an eye on the forums & news.

I'm especially interested to know if there are any others, like me, still around from the 'old days' and I'd also love to see how the site and its users have grown and changed over the years. What are the best new things on DiabloFans.com? Who are the users to know?

Also - thanks to Chaud for resurrecting this account for me!

Quote from Bleu42»

D4 is quite literally years away. At least three is my guess, closer to 4 most likely. What we saw is pre alpha. 2020's blizzcon most likely will show us at least 1 of the remaining classes to be announced, probably both. 2021 Blizzcon will either show the 2nd, or just the rest of the systems they decided on. Might get some beta news after, and if we're lucky a launch sometime late in 2022. 4

Well first of all, 2022 is only 3 years away, not 4. It’s the end of 2019... lol. And second, considering blizz specifically said they don’t want it to be like D3’s development, Which was released 4 years after its announcement, only because it had major development issues. Best guess is D4 will go into closed beta sometime in 2021 and if all goes well, be released end of that year.

Quote from WishesHeHadBeta»

Quote from overrider»

Because people have yet to overcome the impossibility to accept the "optional" concept of content that is there NOT FOR EVERYONE. They think that if it's there they are forced to play that way. They fail to understand that they're not the only people in the world and that maybe the majority would use such a feature . It's a feature that it's on top of the base experience, entirely optional, and not necessary to achieve end game.

Blizz said the Open world feature is “optional”? Where did they say this? I was under the impression you didn’t have a choice in sharing whatever world you’re in.

It's optional in the sense that there is very little in the game that is built around group play; at the time of the demo, the only thing that needed more than 1 player was the world boss. And as stated in the other thread, it is not a pervasive element.

The way it was described (and was my experience on the demo), is that the gameplay should feel bleak-you're alone with no help, no reinforcements, most of the time. You will always solo dungeons, unless you choose to be in a party. In the towns, there will be more people, and there you can chat, trade, form groups, etc. In the open world, you\ll generally only see other players near a town or a world event, this is all done via phasing.

The grain of salt to take away from this is...it is still really early in the development, a lot can change and who knows in what direction. All we can do is keep providing feedback, and hope they listen.

And I will echo my 1st post in this thread; the gameplay videos do not do the graphics of the demo any justice. It looked as different from D3 as D3 did to D2, in my eyes anyway.

Hello Hello,

My name is Tymei and I stream on twitch sometimes. I've been streaming on and off for a couple of years, but I am actually gonna take a semester off school to really go all in and see what I can achieve! When the new Diablo 3 Seasons come out, its all in to try and finally make it on the leaderboards. Other than diablo, I also fancy myself a good warframe session, or maybe something World of Warcraft related. Feel free to drop by the stream anytime, it would be much appreciated!

https://www.twitch.tv/tymeitv/

At the time of the D1 manual, when they wrote that Inarius' wings were stripped, I'll bet they had in mind typical feathered angel wings, not the energy tendrils that showed up in D2. I think there's an unused graphic of an angel statue that looks such. And of course the iconic angel on the mana globe was always the more traditional style. In other words I'm not sure they thought through how to tear out the energy wings and whether they want to keep that part of lore.

A summon is to call something from somewhere else. Lilith s more than the sum of the "ingredients," that would instead be manufacturing her.

Its possible/likely that she needs some kind of human host to tether herself to Sanctuary, just like all the Prime and Lesser evils had. However while host is shown to have some influence on their power (Diablo as Albrecth vs Aidan), its also clear that Diablo's power clearly surpassed any one host.

Lilith is causing the remaining humans to act worse and spreading chaos and corruption by here mere presence. She may also be summoning demons to help her out and that is causing massive collateral damage to humans. Some heroes might want to get rid of her for that reason alone, even if it isn't the best thing for humanity in the long run. Remember the lore panel stressed that feeling of how the good guys don't always win or they arrive a day late and a dollar short, whatever we accomplish in D4 is almost certainly going to have a huge failing or downside. Like maybe killing Lilith opens us up to worse aggressors in expansions.