Quote from batmon
see i was thinken sentse its beta and not the demo they released at press events. that maybe you will still be able to play ur char after u complete the first act and cant go any farther. then what good is that char besides just bank space. remember to take his runes off before you beat the act lol. more runes u find maken multiple toons, u can shift them around and see or get a general concept of what skills u like for each class. remember that for rule of thumb. plus its first act so u wont get that many lvls... ehhh frustrating lol. seriously all this diablo news all the time gives me high blood pressure just gimmie the damn game
Yes, after beating Leoric, you can go back and continue playing your character. We plan on pushing characters the furthest they can go level wise. Supposedly, characters cap at lvl 13 in the beta. We will have to see.
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If you haven't yet, make sure to check out our three contests for Diablo III, where we will be giving away a total of three Alienware X51 computers.
RMAH Pushed Back to May 29
Blizzard has pushed back the release of the RMAH to May 29 to help ensure success of the system.
Originally Posted by blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
To learn more about the auction house system, have a look at the comprehensive Auction House Guide or check out the updated Auction House FAQ.
No Artisan Can Add Sockets
While the Official page for the Jeweler says that the Jeweler can add sockets, this was actually something removed from the game. There is no way to add sockets to items if they do not drop with the them.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Socketing was a feature that was in the game very early on, but ultimately it didn't end up enhancing the play experience as we had hoped. Instead it just kind of felt like a chore. It's a really good feeling to see an upgrade drop, equip it, and keep moving on. When adding sockets to items was inserted into that equation, it made it feel mandatory to return to town every time an upgrade dropped to pull the gem from your current item, add a socket to the new one, and carry your gem forward. There's already a little bit of this in Diablo III with gems, but the fact that you can make a choice in most situations on whether or not to use a socketed item makes a big difference. As another consequence, the ability to add sockets made the random rolling of a socket as an item affix feel kind of crappy. And given the way items and stats are generated in this game anyway–you’ll virtually never get the same item with the same stats twice–we don’t currently feel there’s a major lack of customization depth.
Adding complexity to systems isn't a problem for us, but it has to enhance the gameplay, not add to it an element of tedium just for the sake of intricacy. Ultimately this is why adding sockets was pulled. Now, if we feel down the road that the item game needs some new flair, we'll absolutely consider additional customization features (such as enchanting or socketing). But we have to make sure they're designed in such a way that the game is enriched through the added complexity, without creating a convoluted item system that detracts from the initial excitement you feel when you get an epic new weapon or piece of gear.
Blue Posts
Originally Posted by (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
I have! About 5 times now.
And based on Twitter mentions I've been receiving via @CM_Zarhym since Tuesday, it seems A LOT of other people have killed me too. It's kinda morbid to look at dozens of images depicting your own inevitable death.
at least i hope neth is in game im not sure, and i was wrong about bashiok =( i was Baslock the Depraved =( i was denied!
I don't think I'm in there. But I'm going to have a good time hunting those two down. ;p (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
PvP Voice Over Sessions
Listening in on PVP voice over sessions. Cool stuff! (Source)
Blizzard Still Working Hard
Keep in mind not everyone who's critical is a hater. There are many people out there making great points, whether their feedback about the game is positive or negative. Whenever reading posts on the forums I try, first and foremost, to determine if it's clear that the poster genuinely cares about this game and wants to be invested in it, even if it's because they want to see improvements in specific areas.
This is a really important time for the company, as well as my team specifically. The game is out and in many peoples' hands. Now we're just listening carefully to what you think (and spending the hours meant for sleeping blowing up bad guys) -- while also doing our best to keep an open line of communication with you about common points of confusion, service issues, etc.
It all boils down to a love for gaming and passion for a franchise. That's a pot where players maybe the meat, and Blizzard employees maybe the peas and carrots, but it's all just one collective stew. I'm hungry.
Have a great weekend. <3 (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Heroes Rise Short Stories
In case you missed it, along with the banners for each class, a short story was also added. These short stories help add some extra depth to the lore of the characters you are playing. If you haven't read them yet, check them out. Here are some excerpts from each story just to give you a taste.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Barbarian
Wayfarer – by Cameron Dayton
It was a man. A giant of a man who towered over even these hulking things. A man who stood dripping in hot blood that steamed in the cold morning air. He wore a bearskin cloak across mountainous shoulders, and his legs were girded with piecemeal armor of mismatched plate and mail. Heavy oxhide boots. Chest bare and scarred. Thick hands, knotted and rough, were wound around the haft of a terrible weapon that matched his size. It was easily three times the length of Aron's axe, forged of angry black metal and notched along both sides of its uneven blade. It was a coarse and brutal tool of death, held aloft as though it were part of the man's own arm.
This could only be a barbarian.
Demon Hunter
Hatred and Discipline – by Micky Neilson
There was a barely discernible, persistent hum. The only signs of life came from Josen and two other hunters, one searching the derelict structures, another standing near a rundown storehouse. Whatever had happened here, they were too late to do anything about it. Now it was a matter of looking for survivors. That was, after all, the second most important thing her people did: feed and shelter those left homeless in the aftermath of unthinkable catastrophe. Guide them, encourage them, heal them, educate and train them... to do the most important thing, should they so choose: become a demon hunter and annihilate the hellspawn responsible for evils like this.
Monk
Unyielding – by Matt Burns
"The Patriarchs ask a hard task of you, one reserved only for the most devout of our order," the Unyielding had continued. He stared at Zhota for a moment, furrowing his brow. "You have attained the rank of monk, but there are times when I wonder if you are truly ready. There are times when I think you are still that fool boy who first came to the monastery. More beast than man, really... a wild thing with eyes clouded by emotion and intuition and all those other fleeting feelings that change on a whim just as swiftly as the winds. Are you that boy, or are you a monk?"
Witch Doctor
Doubtwalker - by Matt Burns
Each season, after the Igani, the emptied husks of tributes were carefully sewn together in the shapes of dogs, their bodies filled with herbal composts and dried leaves. A boiled skull of a beast was used as the head, attached just above a mane of feathers. With the blessing of the spirits, these zombified beings served as loyal minions at a witch doctor's beck and call.
Wizard
Firefly - by Michael Chu
That was our first meeting, and I still remember it vividly. Isendra embraced her role in teaching Li-Ming. She became a mentor to the girl, and Li-Ming gained a deep respect for the sorceress. They were more alike than Isendra or I had suspected. But Li-Ming quickly exhausted the extent of Isendra's knowledge. Their relationship changed, and Li-Ming began to treat the sorceress as an equal rather than a teacher. Isendra was changing too, and that worried me as well. She was far too permissive with Li-Ming's behavior. With nothing to learn, Li-Ming followed the vein of curiosity that had always driven her, and that was when the trouble started.
Portrait of a Champion Contest Winners
The Winners of the Portrait of a Champion Contest have finally been decided.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Thank you all for your participation, and congratulations to the winning artists!
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The two winners were randomly drawn. Congratulations to Lukasz Kacznski and Pedro Pedrosa. E-mails have been sent to both of the winners. Please check for them. You have 48 hrs to respond before we will select new winners. P.S. the e-mail will come from me (TylerMilnes@yahoo.com) so check your spam folder just in case you do not see it.
Again, it was great to see so many people help this worthy cause. While nothing is set in stone, my brother and I are eagerly looking for another opportunity to do something like this so keep your eyes open.
Thanks again.
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We have done amazing so far and I can't thank everyone enough for making this such a success.
To draw the winners, I have a spread sheet with everyone's names on a line for each ticket they bought. I will then use a random sequencer to assign each ticket a random number. I will then use a dice roller to randomly decide the two winners.
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Thanks again everyone. And you can definitely expect us to be doing this again thanks to the great success you guys have helped with.
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And no, there is no way to have more than 4 dogs no matter what skills/runes/traits you select.
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I also wanted to give everyone a heads up that there are only 4 days left to enter the raffle if you plan on doing so.
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Scyberadragon #1275
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Don't worry about it. The raffle is still open for a week so you will be fine.
Other I guess.
Merry Christmas!
Or merry diablomas
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While we have exceeded our goal, we are raising our own hopes and want to raise even more for this amazing charity.
If you did not get a chance to reserve a CE and still want one, this a great opportunity to try to win for as little as $1. Or if you just want to help and donate, that's great as well.
The raffle will stay open until 11:59 pm est may 15 so there is still time to win.
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Update 1: Added Jay Wilson on Inferno video, with thanks to Knucker for the tip.
Jay Wilson on Inferno
A new interview with Jay Wilson has just been posted. This time its all about inferno!
Enrage Timers
Bashiok has given some more information on how enrage timers are going to work to help add just one more layer of difficulty in Inferno.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
People kiting the Skeleton King around for an hour with their level 3 characters is fun to see. It's not fun when it's level 60's at end game and item drops matter. To make these kills and thus a character's progression matter we need to try to fight cheesy tactics that allow people to just flop through the game.
Don't force people to be efficient if they don't want to be.
The point of the game is efficiency... Killing monsters as quickly as possible to maximize your time to find the drops you want. That is the game. I think you should do whatever you think is fun, absolutely, but if you want to go at a slower pace, not really worry much about maximizing efficiency, and just kind of take it at your own speed you're going to have a pretty rough time in Nightmare let alone Inferno. Hopefully as the game progresses and difficulty ramps up you're naturally being encouraged to tighten up your build and scrutinize your gear more and more.
In any case though, as I detailed the enrage timers aren't "I Win" buttons for the bosses, so a more defensive build should still be able to progress if they're geared and being played well.
With the Nephalem Valor buff the best loot is off champions, rares, and (assuming the buff is up) bosses. As I said the point is ensuring "legitimate" progression. But if someone wants to farm rares and champions in the beginning of Act I because they can't beat the Skeleton King, they should absolutely do that. And actually, everyone should be expecting to do exactly that when they reach Inferno.
You can very often achieve the same goal without the metagamey "I Win" button.
They aren't "I Win" buttons.
what exactly does the enrage timer hope to accomplish other than becoming an artificial barrier of progress?
Nope! You nailed it, that's the intent of an enrage timer.
I like how you throw in "artificial" as a negative. It's a video game. It's all designed and artificial. If there's a "natural" or "organic" way to stymie someone's attempt to cheese their way through a boss kill I'd be happy to hear it.
Gotta farm up that tier gear before you progress! Hello boring MMO structure.
Not a big Diablo fan, huh?
Item Tiers
With the video posted just today and the interview we posted a few days ago. People are already looking for more clarification on gear tiers in Inferno. Bashiok hit the forums with some information.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We separate out 'item tiers' for their visual appearance first and foremost. We have a number of "armor sets" (18?) in the game that match visually, and so we call them 'tiers' because there's no real better way to say it. When all of your items are from that 'tier', you'll match. That doesn't directly determine their stats, though.
They're spread out in a logical progression, and items get more awesome looking as you go further in the game. Ipso facto the higher the visual tier the better chance it's a more powerful item, but it doesn't preclude the possibility of it being worse. You can absolutely find an item from a visual tier back in Hell difficulty that's better than an item using a later visual tier in Inferno.
It's best to just expunge the term 'tier' from your minds, because it really has nothing to do with any kind of stair step or item upgrade approach. It's just models and textures.
Each Inferno act has its own item tiers?
Wasn't he referring to monster level? I'm pretty sure he was. Link?
"And there are items that ONLY drop at level 61, at level 62 and so on; and they're not small number!"
Thanks, I was skipping around trying to find it.
So yeah, I guess the visual looks are separated out by Act in Inferno. As I said though it doesn't guarantee or preclude an item of a specific 'tier' to be better of worse than another of near proximity.
As I said it's really a non-issue. We need to come up with a better name than 'tier' for the matching art sets, it just makes people think the power is tiered too. Matching art sets!? How about that? Art set? nah....
So, in order to progress to later acts in inferno, you need to find all your gear in inferno because of their looks?
I'm gonna go curl up in a ball.
Atomix Interview with Alex Mayberry
Atomix has had a chance to site down with Alex Mayberry for another great interview! This time around we get some info about how Blizzard handles the release schedules, some pvp, production and a few other goodies. Feel free to read the quick bullet point summary or watch the full video below for all the good stuff!
DiabloFans Quote:
Release Schedules
Interview with Alex Mayberry
PuntoGames has posted an interview with Alex Mayberry as he made his way through Argentina. Check the previous three interviews. You can watch the full video below the bullet points of the interview.
DiabloFans Quote:
Most popular character
Korean Diablo III Commercial
Bashiok tweeted another commerical today. However this time around its a Korean commercial. It also seems to be highlights taken from another video on the Korean Blizzard youtube channel. If you're dying to know what its saying afkalmighty gives a very quick translation of whats going on!
Irvine Launch Question/Problem
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Ive been to a midnight release of every blizzard game made starting with Diablo 2. Only ONCE have i seen a gaming shop have extra collectors editions.
Well, to be fair, product availability tends to be a little different at our official events. The Fry's we've had most of our official US events at had so many Burning Crusade CE's they still had copies 2+ years after the expansion released.
Quick side query there Bashiok; Why do we not see any Blizzard events in Australia? Namely no Diablo 3 Launch? You have the playerbase here for certain..
We think it'd be keen! But with a regional midnight launch in pacific time it means the down under is about to play in the early evening. Having a midnight launch event didn't make much sense when the servers are up for you at 3-5pm. Open to feedback on that though.
bashiok.. is getting your signature or playing of the game more important?
Signature, as I'm set to be signing until 2am I want as many people as possible to be unable to start playing right at midnight.