DiabloFans

Nice class, some cool powers actually, that hurricane somehow remembers me of the druid... maybe they'll have a lore explanation for that? Anyway slow time was really interesting but I can safely say they brought that from SC2... and that's a compliment from me, it was clever usage of their other franchises, but there are possible flaws which i won't get into anytime soon. Hoped they gave us yet another character, even if non-playable in the demo, but it actually pleased me so far.

Wow I am quite late to do this I believe but a ery warm farewell MD, you have set an example to all of us of how a single person can affect, influence and inspire many others in a very positive way, not to mention you changed this community in a way we had never seen before. I was trying to load blizzplanet.com but it seems to be gone, dunno if anyone else has that but from what I've read it seems you were probably asked to shut it down as well, but I wish I'm wrong there. Anyway I know we're going through tough times and I think everyone here is sending their best wishes and good luck with your career. I hope to keep hearing from you, and especially seeing some discussion posts around. Back in the years this community used to be much more expeculative than informative but times have changed since then. I think it will take a while for us to find someone with so many connections as you and thus I think it will grow back to be slightly more speculative than it is now, so I think we're all hoping to seeing you there every once and a while. Again all the best for you, Tom.

Angellium

Edit: ok I can load onto some pages of blizzplanet so that's some relief.

I have mixed feelings about this at the moment, I find it logical to keep each ability exclusive to a class but for lore reasons I'd like that each class had a "forgotten" skill which could only be learned through ancient tomes, or if not, at least presented to players through that. And concerning runewords, in a way I find it good that people will have to rely more or skill and tactics more than equipment (by this I mean anyone has a chance against anyone else), but I liked the way some runewords gave new skills to a class, I'm not referring to oskill, but to skills on hit/death. I found that genious first time I played and I'd like to see it born anew in the next game.

Fair enough, but that doesn't mean the description can't be inaccurate when saying it's Diablo's head there. And please can you give me a link with the confirmation?

Balrog find: awesome find dude! lol

Now seriously, I still doubt that's really Diablo, firstly because I remember an interview with Jay where he said they weren't even sure if Diablo was to appear in D3 yet, so how did they release an image of him in their official trailer when they are not even sure the character will be making an appearance?
Secondly, the description of that figurine says: "NOT FINAL PRODUCT", basically that implies its subject to changes and thus nothing there is definite and there's no backing that the people who did that description are 100% sure on the nature of the demon so if Blizz gives us a definitive artwork for Diablo which is different from what we suppose now, either the figurine or it's description will be altered.

Just my opinion, I think they're actually ending the first storyarc of the Diablo Universe, much like WC2 did with the orc x human conflict. You see it doesn't really end at all, the story justs finishes at one major break and moves out to focus on another threat such as the undead in WC3. So what I expect in D4 is a new arc focused on: the High Heavens and how they affect their universe; maybe finding another way to bring the Prime Evils back to the Sanctuary; or even exploring the nature of the more mysterious forces in that Universe such as the Dragons, the origins of that Universe, etc... I'm particularly more interested in the former and latter possibilities, and would very much like learning of these aspects of the universe in a game which is NOT a MMO.

I don't like the use of prequels much because I'm against converting books into games, and personally it would be strange to play a game based on the Sin War, where everyone's power is based on their imagination, and could affect anything and everything in the world, sure it is hardly doable to take that into a game. Now I can imagine spin-offs from the other novels, but would that be as attractive to people as a direct sequel to the series?

Well I'm exited and dissapointed at the same time with this news, I am a long running pala-addict for D2 and mostly any other RPG around (even though they are nowere as good as how Blizzard portrayed them), and I will definately miss playing with such class, although I'm happy to see that there may be a new and exiting class on its way, maybe something more similar to the powers shown in the Sin War trilogy? Anyway, it's definately exiting to wonder what kinds of new powers are they bringing to this world (supposing they're not reusing most powers from D2). My only concern would be something silly, because I'm sure the staff is aware os this, which is keeping all classes solo-combat capable, that means that more focus on self serving powers instead of buffs, please! What made D2's paladin great was that all he had to give to the party was his aura, so I just hope they keep more or less the same scheme for all classes in D3, give each a single and distinct way to help group gameplay. Anyway looking forward to Blizzcon next month!

Right, I see the weather is as usual very torn when it comes to graphics, Creepsville, I agree with your point in saying that the influence came from the art teams, and all that, but in comparison, there is a very similar atmosphere to, lets say some of the heavier levels of WC3, such as later Arthas in the human campaign. What most people miss I think, was that, as Roper said, Diablo was the most distinct franchise of all three, and the new graphic choice seems to have shortened this distance, which in a way is positive because we can expect the team to work better on familiar ground, but again we don't know yet how the horror/dark fantasy atmosphere the game should give us will turn out. Thus my mixed feelings on the art direction.

Anyway I think Bill had the best analysis I ever saw on D3, saying that the studio is actually aiming for easier gameplay and clearer graphics. In my opinion you can't get much more accurate than that in describing the overhaul in the series, health globes seem to be easier to handle than having to stock potions (although I'm sure there will be difficulties imposed to the player as the game progresses). I wonder how he thought the game would be if it was made by the same team as D1 and D2. My only concern with his opinion was that maybe Blizzard is choosing the least hard options to make this game, changing the graphics from gothic to a more consistant choice from their other games, keeping the overall gameplay the same, and as far as we know, placing their bets on cooperative gameplay. I wish I knew for sure how the game will turn out, my expectations are great but I only hope this game is a challange to the new team as much as the last games were to the greatly missed Blizzard North team.

Btw, it was one of the most emotional interviews I've ever read, I really wish the best to all the people who were on this unfortunate battle which was the downfall of Flagship and I look forward to a game which will be on the same level as the team deserved.

Well I still believe the best option is partial respec. The main reasons almost everyone seems to approve respec is basically to correct minor mistakes of a character's building, and as our Farret said, with time full respec becomes inviable. The major advantage I see in this is that the players will be forced to adopt a definitive build about halfway through the game, if not earlier than that, meaning newbies will have the opportunity to learn about the possibilities early in the game, and will be capable of playing together with the more hardcore players later in the game. Of course you could say this would make it impossible for people to change their build in a part of the game that seems hard for you, but I actually find that positive, with situations like that, it's the player himself who improves his skills in the game, learning new tactics and experiencing different levels of playing. I think almost everyone here at some point in Diablo I or II have gone through that. This was what made us better players and fans of hardcore mode, I think it should be taken to the next Diablo game as well.

As for orbs, my opinions are divided. In one point I see the advantages of having a more battle-oriented game, but as someone pointed out, would make the parties all too melee based, we'd need either the orbs to become increasingly insufficient through the game, thus requiring a secondary healing option such as potions or a healing ability from a character. Anyway it is too early to condemn these orbs, we don't know much about other classes and I believe some of them will have healing abilities, making my last prediction plausible, let's wait and see, Blizzcon is almost here, we can expect at least another class to be unveiled there.

Nah, Blizzard would hardly accept an AO rating, so if adding children to the mix inferes in an AO game, then I think this will be out.

However I tend to think we will actually see more children this time around. Just think, in the past games, people knew terrible things were happening and so they were probably struggling to survive in the shown towns, so hardly any children were born. Now, 20 years on, nobody except our fella Deckard Cain, thinks there's anything bad around, so its simple to believe the population has been growing a lot more. All this said, I don't think I do even need to explain that we so far had a glimpse of the world of Sanctuary, and we have not been to a single major city (except Lut Golein) where we could see its usual routine.

On the idea of killable kids, well I don't personally see how it would be put on the game so that it doesn't get it rating higher up. I mean, it's pretty certain the player won't be able to kill normal (alive) children, but I don't know how the scene of monsters killing children are seen in the eyes of the rating boards. On another point, I'm almost sure killing monstruous children is pretty much ok, as long as you can really tell them apart... well I mean, it could get to M but definately not to AO.

Ok, getting slightly off topic here guys...

Anyway I don't really get your idea of an orb in the place of the cross... all I can see is the cross and the armor outline.
Now I want to take us to another point. Given it is one of the Archangels, specifically Imperius, where would he be at this point? It really seems like a temple or a castle if you look at the surroundings, so could we suppose it happened at the Cathedral? Maybe it was Imperius who came in that comet and he has encountered Tyrael in the Cathedral soon after. I say this but I'm not sure of it yet. I wonder still what happened to Tyrael after the destruction of the Worldstone (which I can't wait to see remade in one of the cinematics).

Hey man I just remembered a question you asked sometime ago on a separate topic and I think it's more than worthy of being quoted here.

Quote from Atrumentis »

How do the Spirits of the natural world (Sanctuary) relate to Trag'Oul?

Druids can talk to animals and plants and even commune with the supreme Spirits of Nature. I would really like someone such as Knaak to write a book based on the Druids and the Spirits of Sanctuary. They must be similar to Trag'Oul - created with Sanctuary and likely unknown to the High Heavens or Burning Hells. Trag'Oul is the sentient guardian of Sanctuary, so he must be in league with the Spirits too. But are the spirits below, equal or of higher power than him? Trag'Oul actually seems kind of weak. Well, powerful in his own realm, but it takes so much of his strength to interfere with Sanctuary. Does this mean that the Spirits have their own realm of existence too? And how do the spirits relate to the Worldstone? Surely they must have something to say about it.

In the past I thought that the Druids must be connected to Trag'Oul just like the Necromancers are, but then I realised that they have these Spirits of Nature, which seem to be similar to Trag'Oul but not quite the same.

Its also interesting to note that Priests of Rathma are able to commune with spirits of all the people and even creatures who have died in the area, but are unable to commune with the spirits of animals and plants. Clearly there is a distinct difference between spirits of nature and spirits of deceased creatures. Though I fail to see what that difference is, exactly.

In case anyone wishes to check the full discussion which developed on the question, please see this page and I'd suggest that unless someone has a definite answer to this, please carry on the discussion there.

Quote from "Equinox" »

Being oldschool is not enough. From the Clan FAQ:

How do I join a clan?

First of all, you must’ve been a member at DF.com for one month, and also have five hundred (500) posts. This is to make sure you just don’t get into a clan and then go inactive. Second, you send a request by PM to either Elfen Lied or Atrumentis about taking the clan test. Once you’ve taken the test, you will be placed in the clan. Only send the request to one moderator at a time.

Yep, in theory I'd be very old school here and idealizer of the creation of the Travnical section and I'm quite happy not being a member because I know I'll get there eventually and especially I'm aware the more serious members are happy with it so I kinda have the feeling of having done my job to help this community... even though they stripped 70+ posts from me these weeks I've been away...

Quote from "PhrozenDragon" »

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.

I agree with your overall idea Phrozen, but indeed there is a need to make it so that the player doesn't become too abusive with respeccing. One thing I found great in D2 was, as someone said, you have to plan your character, I'm not saying we shouldn't get respeccing but what I found awesome in not being able to in D2, was that the player actually earned experience playing his sometimes badly-built character. It was what happened the first time I played it: I had a paladin and I just balanced all stats and chose as many different skills as possible. In fact that character sucked but even through that freaking madness of having a handful of lvl 1 auras and skills I actually managed to beat the game for the first time and it felt awesome, from that point on I figured I had learned quite well to sort myself out with pretty much any given paladin build and especially a badly balanced one, of course it didn't match anyone in PvP but it's a good challange to any experienced player still. Anyway I think we should have respec possibilities in the game, but I hope they make it hard and costly to the player, and I'll comment on some suggestions here:

Quote from "ansl" »

Respeccing IMO is a good thing. Imagine spending countless hours creating the perfect character, everythings dandy - but then all of a suddon blizzard releases a new patch which renders your build completely useless transforming your semi-boner into a freakshow of STD's.

I beleive that they should allow respeccing but at a extremely high cost. In WoW they have 1g, 5g, 10g, 25g, etc etc etc. so respeccing does become a pain in the ass after you've respecced 15 times. A system like this which starts at a absurd amount of gold would IMO be useable and good. The pricing for this system could be regulated towards your lvl.

made up example: lets say 500 g is a "large" amount of gold in Diablo III, at lvl 10 it would be 2500g for respeccing one talent tree, at lvl 20 it would be 5000g, lvl 30 7500g etc. etc. etc. if you have to respec all 3 talent trees(if there are three) at lvl 30 it would cost 22500g. Everytime you respecc on that char the cost would be doubled. (the numbers are made up to illustrate the idea)

I did like the quest idea though I believe it should be more than 2 skills at a time, the quest idea should be really dangerous and crave many skills - (gl to the hc community).

- ansl

I agree with you in your first paragraph, I feel like that everytime a new patch comes out... and WotLK is just on the horizon...

Back to the point: your idea is very valid. Maybe they could make a system where you pay per skill? That way you wouldn't kill total respeccing but you could make it so that it becomes extremely unfavorable and costly to the player. The prices could increase as the character levels do so that by lvl 99 for example, you're asked a relatvely large amount of money per skill to be respecced, in your example about 2500g per skill?

Quote from "Krauser" »

I support full respecing but I don't want it to be easy at all. Maybe limit it to one respec every 10 levels and as many as you need at level 99 via some sort of med/hard quest line each time you need it, there have been countless times in D2 where I was filling in skill points and oh - started to lag and accidentally put some extra points into a few places I didn't want them in and I was fucked.

Another nice idea, but I disagree with the quest line for lvl 99, maybe you could do so in one of these random events throughout the world? I mean, I can't see the point of respeccing totally at lvl 99 after you've gone so far with your previous spec?

Quote from "Equinox" »

I think the gauntlet is the cursor, but I am not really sure.

I like the graphics. Considering that's just the start of the game, I don't want it to get any darker. Maybe more refined, because it does have a pastel kind of look outside. As far as I am concerned, atmosphere has very little to do with graphics, so I don't really care how it looks...

Lol true, the good and old cursor... how could I forget that?!

It's not that I dislike the graphics at all! Infact I found them rather suiting and I really believe they have some potential. My main concern is not that the atmosphere will be different, I think that can be sorted by colouring and the storytelling itself, not to mention how we will be presented to the world lore through the perspective of different NPCs. The only thing I found concerning imo was the nature and the art of how some monsters were presented, namely skeletons and that strange final boss. The first time I put my eyes on the skeletons, I saw WC3 on screen with updated graphics. I thought they should be a bit slimmerand move more like the living, without excessive shaking, like they did in the past games. With the final boss, I found it amazing tbh, but relating to art, I thought it could be creepier. His claws could be actually part of him, or they could look more gothic and hellish. In any case, I do not say it's bad because so far we don't know of his nature, where does he come from etc, so these opinions are just scattered ideas with no foundation on lore or anything.

In any case, I agree with you the graphics look awesome for such an early build and if they progress as much in one year as they did with the graphics on SC2, I can't even imagine how incredible it will become and I really trust the staff will do that.

Quote from "Num3n" »

im really fine with how it looks and im just so bloody glad that they really stayed true to the feel of diablo 1 and 2

Very true, I thought the gameplay lwas great, and I can't wait to see what will change from class to class. I wonder how would the aura system work if there was a paladin, because it was the most distinct class in terms of gameplay on D2 (imo). Also one thing I wish was implemented was a spell charging system similar to that of Fable, first time I played it I thought it genious, maybe they could add that to some of the skills...