DiabloFans

its not impossible to get that kind of detail, but outside of cinematics, its becomes much more difficult to program to be used by someone in a game that requires it to be constantly changing, and also requires much more in the hardware. So to get the kind of detail your asking for, you would be waiting on loading screens non-stop, slow down the action by half, reduce the amount of monsters and skills and effects by everyone......hence, eliminate the fun of diablo.

as for the arms, thats on purpose to distinguish it from the barbarian. fast and agile vs big and strong. crazy detailed jewelery would be a waste of information because of the way you view your character in game, you will not see detailed jewelery regardless if its there or not, so why do it. Same goes with the beard. Your looking at the character from the front and about 4 times bigger than it will actually be in game. creating realistic hair that plays into effect movement and dynamics also creates more programming and memory. its not needed with facial hair when your not gonna be close enough to see it.

One thing I found interesting was, during the diablo section of blizzcon when he was mentioning the runes. He said they work on the runes last because they're supported by all the other classes and their skills. He also mentioned that they have given themselves a mass amount of time to work on them and polish them.

I'm probably reading too much into it, but the way he describes the amount of time given to work on runes, and them usually kept towards the end, leads me to believe the game is further along than we think. Not saying its complete, and still could be set for 2011, but if they can polish it and eliminate the kinks I wouldn't be surprised to see a 2010 date

I like the amount of blood personally, i'm a fan of a gory game lol. But I agree it needs to be mixed up a bit more. Watching the monk gameplay is awesome, but it does seem like anytime he kills something, it blows up. Don't get me wrong I love exploding corpses, but save it for the big move, not every hit. I thought I remembered blizzard stating they were going to consider more death animations to have a larger variety and randomness to the way a creature dies, lets hope so.

+1 on tone down the screen shaking. I like it, but it seems like it will dull down the suspense of a big boss or huge effect. Maybe eliminate it or put it on a scale varying how much it shakes. Very minimal for regular monsters and amp it up during large boss fights.

I think with the success blizzard has seen with wow, they're hoping to outlast D2 and I would bet more than 1 expansion if the launch goes well

seeing as d3 is picking up some elements from wow, theres doubt that there will be merchants in between town to sell to. I'm split on the decision with town portals. I like the idea you can't just run whenever you run into trouble, and at the same time its nice to be able to return to town without having to make it through an entire area.

What do you guys think if they made townportals somewhat like the hearthstones in wow? permanent object takes up 1 slot in inventory, can only be used out of combat with a cooldown on it? maybe 30 min or 1 hour? That would still leave the suspense of battles without the option to run, and allow a player to return to town when they desire it most, without overdoing it and dropping one tp after another.

Hey guys, figured i'd join up for the long haul! Played both diablo 1 & 2 along with their expansions till my eyes bled and I started speaking in tongues. Can't wait for the 3rd one and would gladly sell a kidney for it to arrive tomorrow. otherwise, look forward to the forums and fellow members! :thumbsup:

The area shown with the witchdoctor, and with the monk definitely look like different acts, kinda like the ones in d2. I believe they're probably around 75% done as well.