Hi, all! Here is a new video from Blizzcon from yours truly!
Ninja'd Blizzcon 2010 Gameplay Video
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Oct 23, 2010Yumaro posted a message on Ninja'd Blizzcon 2010 Gameplay VideoPosted in: Diablo III General Discussion
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ScyberDragon posted a message on Crafting SanctuaryPlaces (Written by liquorice)Posted in: News & Announcements
Storytelling in Diablo III
Do you remember the intro to Diablo II? First thing you see is a one minute long conversation by our friendly camp keeper Warriv. With Diablo III the game designers are taking a big step away from that way of story development. The main philosophy they have for storytelling is the concept of Play, don't Tell. What that means is that long drawn out conversations slows down the gameplay, something they want to avoid in Diablo III. Instead they will focus on bringing in storytelling on-the-go. Conversations will be kept rather short and spread out. When possible they also want you to be able to play while listening and a video example was shown where a player engage fighting monsters while listening to story details told by a quest character.
Something that lore fans definitely will enjoy is lore books. Lore books are books found within the world that tells a story. The author of the book will read out loud what is written and provide additional flavor to the game while you keep fighting monsters. This is another example of the opt-in storytelling that they want to include for Diablo III.
Creating the environment
In the panel we got to follow the team as they explained how you take an idea and make a concept, how you take that concept and make it to a 3D environment with all the flashy effects that we see in the game. The example is from an area called the Bastion Keep. A huge fortress that will be under heavy siege from the demon horde.- Step 1 is the concept art. The picture that sets the feel for the area with materials, shapes, colors and all kinds of detail. The team works hard to get every detail just right so that it is easier to translate into the gaming world.
- Step 2 is when the modellers start their work. A graybox (non textured 3d model) is created so that you can see how the models look in game.
- Step 3 is when the textures are added, this adds colour and material into the game and it's starting to look like something from the actual game.
- In step 4 the tech staff gets to add in lighting and particle effects which makes the world come alive. Destructible objects are added to enhance the gameplay feel.
Monsters (Written by Zhar)
Words cannot describe how impressed I was with Blizzard's new take on monsters. After everything from monster development to AI was covered in the panel, I knew Blizzard's new direction would be a good thing for Diablo III.
Not to say they're not keeping the hordes we grew accustomed to in Diablo II, or the memorable encounters of Diablo I. It seems they're trying to strike a balance between the two, which was quite evident in gameplay videos, and panel discussion.
The Balance
Load up this video, and fast forward to 2:35. Notice the monsters? They seem to have struck a good balance between hordes of cannon fodder, and interesting combat. There is one easily identifiable "boss monster" to focus attention on, accompanied by hordes of lesser monsters to keep a fast pace, and destructive feel to combat. Even normal encounters seem to have this feel to them, with the new fallen hierarchy, or the Cultists who transform into demons. It's this dynamic blend of monster types, as well as behavior and scripting that will keep encounters fresh and interesting.
Encounters
The panel also discussed various ways encounters will be initiated. For example, zombies suddenly popping up while walking through swampy areas as mentioned, and ghouls scaling cliff walls has been shown in several gameplay videos now. Before, skeletons popping out of barrels were the only "surprise monsters" we ever encountered. Now, it seems as if we'll be running into more and more encounters where we will not be able to initiate it ourselves, we will be kept on our toes, and always on the lookout for ambushes. There also seem to be several special monster encounters, such as a thief monster who, while difficult to catch, gives out very good loot.
AI and behavior Monster behaviors were also briefly discussed. One monster in particular was used as the example, the "Gravedigger". As the name suggests, this monster is usually found in graveyards, and is in a passive state before the player draws near. He will mind his own business, dig graves, and shuffle around the cemetary. Upon drawing closer, the Gravedigger will go into an alert stance, picking up his shovel as if it was a weapon, looking around, and moving more erratically. Upon drawing even closer, the monster would attack the player. However, Blizzard found that most players wouldn't let him stay alive long enough to experience all of his animations. Thus, a balance was found between monster flavor and gameplay pace. Keep in mind that this is a massive change from the previous games, in which if a monster was on screen, it was almost guaranteed it was either attacking you at range, or closing the gap to engage you in melee combat.
Changes to monster AI have also been made. Previously, monsters would pursue the player endlessly, making it difficult for certain classes to put distance between themselves and their enemies. Now, with minuscule delays between attacks, pursuit and run/stop movement players will be rewarded for movement. It will be possible to micromanage your character to avoid damage and maximize efficiency.
Items - (Written by ScyberDragon)
Armor
There are eighteen levels of armor from the first "naked" look to the top level. Changing from Diablo II is that the looks of the gear will not go back to the basic looking models when starting in the new difficulties. The eighteen levels will be increasing from Normal through Hell so your character will increasingly look more awesome. Part of this is also the thematic armor for each class. While every class can wear all armor, it will look different depending on who is wearing this. A full helm look on the Barbarian may look like a crown on the Monk. Tying in with this, the actual icon of each item will also look different depending on what class you are playing so that it matches how it looks when equipped. Lastly on armor, dyes have been stretched to about twenty colors. These dyes will be bought, crafted, and dropped by monsters is varying rarities. Some examples of new armor sets were shown including my personal favorite of a Witch Doctor having a helm with moving tentacles on it.
Crafting
Along with items, crafting through Artisans is seen as means to compensate for items that do not randomly drop for you. With the random drop system of Diablo, it is possible to clear an entire area or Act without a single pair of boots or gloves dropping for you; this is where Artisans come in. The UI for the Artisans have all been created to be a set standard to help ease confusion from one to the other. With flavor pictures added to the UI to help signify each Artisan's trades. There are still the same three Artisans will be in the game.
- Mystic - The mystic is still in charge of all forms of magical crafting. From enchanting weapons to selling charms, she will be dealing with aspects to help the magical side of your character. Tying in with this theme, the Mystic's wagon was shown with a more naturalistic theme with softer features. On a side note - Identifying has been added to the Mystic's abilities leaving up curiosity to Deckard Cain's role.
- Blacksmith - The Blacksmith, still in charge of weaponry and armor, will boast a harsher looking more sharper wagon. Donned in wood and metal, the shop will continue to grow with bigger and badder items
- Jeweler - The Jeweler will be adding, removing, and combining the fourteen different levels of gems. His wagon will boast a more ornate look since the gems themselves will be harder to display. The range of gems starts from; chipped, flawed, normal, flawless, radiant, square, flawless square, radiant square, round, flawless round, radiant round, star, flawless star, and finishing at radiant star with only the first five levels dropping and the rest needing to be crafted. There are six different types of gems, all the same form Diablo II minus skulls.
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johnnysd posted a message on Some thoughts after playing demo at BlizzconHad one 20 minute session with Diablo III this morning and here are some thoughts:Posted in: Diablo III General Discussion
1. Blizzcon was HUGELY more crowded than last year. So much so that I did not want to wait in the ridiculously huge line to play again which shocked even me
2. The "feel" of the game is perfect. It feels much like a really upgraded Diablo II which is all I think we want
3. Graphics and UI are top notch...they are super polished and clean. Tons of effects. Graphic color bloom seems to have been turned down a notch. I think some will be really excited about this
4. It is very very fun and addictive
5. It seems "done". They are definitely in a beta stage of the game not alpha. The games seems to be itemized, which they always said was one of the last things to be done before it shipped
6. Diablo III seems slightly faster paced from an action standpoint and there are more monsters
7. The monster type limit that Diablo II had is gone. There were at least 8 different monster archetypes in the starting Dungeon you could play
8. In the first dungeon there were champion groups, uncommon "blue" groups of monsters, yellow "rare" named random bosses, purple unique monsters and bosses
9. Loot drops seem to have been tweaked to help with balance. Drop rates from trash mobs seemed lower-they dropped loot but not often. The yellow and purple boss types dropped a lot of loot
10. I am not sold still on the health ord thing
11, It has "best game ever" possibility -
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ScyberDragon posted a message on Character CustomizationThere was a whole lot of info given out about just how we will get to make our characters unique. Although there will still be auto-stat distribution, they are adding in a lot of new mechanics to help us build our characters just they way we want. From the skills they use to fine tuning the play-style, no onw character is going to be alike.Posted in: News & Announcements
- Skills -
Development
Skills are at the core of the Diablo franchise and a major part of what makes your character unique. We have all known that they got rid of the original tree-like mechanic but we were left in the dark to what new system they are using now. First off, it should be re-iterated that each player can now only have seven skills at their disposal. While there will be a lot more skills to choose from than seven, you will only get seven skill slots to use and put your selected skills into. Since leaving the tree system, the development team went to a tab system, like in Diablo II, to help break up the clutter. Unfortunately, this made it too hard to see all of your choices. Next, they went to a simple list system that worked really well but it looked unappealing. The combined this list idea with a better looking UI and came up with the current version,
Current System
The new UI reflects this change to seven skills. On the left will be your seven skill slots which will unlock as you level. To the right is a window with all the skill choices possible, broken up by when you can access them. This will help you to see directly what you have as well as what you can get and plan for future levels. All skills start off with a possible increase of five ranks but there will be a chance to increase this amount through other means. Leveling up a skill will be as simple as clicking o the skill in the UI.
New Skills
- Demon Hunter - You can read about the newly announced Demon Hunter skills here.
- Barbarian - A new skill added to the Barbarian is Ancient Spear. Keeping in touch with his melee roots, Ancient Spear is a ranged attack that will actually pull the monster within melee range of the Barbarian.
- Wizard- For the Wizard, they are bringing back the ever popular Meteor skill with a revamped graphic and feel. They have promised that runes will have a wide array of effects for this skill.
- Witch Doctor- The movement skill for the Witch Doctor, Spirit Walk, has finally been shown. Going into the spirit world, the Witch Doctor becomes corporal and can move through enemies.
- Monk - In-tune with the Monk's melee and Holy attributes, Wave of Light drops down a symbolic holy bell that the Monk hits and sends flying towards monsters.
How it Works
Traits is a new system that will be replacing passive skills. This mechanic was added to allow players to customize their character without having to waste skill points to do so. As you level, you currently gain one trait point every other level. Traits will vary and help distinguish your particular play style. Each Trait will have ranks that will range from one to five that you can upgrade. Helping define you character as a tank, berserker, or battle master for the Barbarian, each trait also includes some flavor text to help explain and immerse your character into the world. There will be about ninety possible choices, including upgrading, but your character will only get about thirty points to distribute. Jay mentioned that right now there are actually too many possibilities and that some will probably be cut out. This will still leave plenty of room for variety and personal choice. Because passives can also become simple mathematical stat boosters, they are making sure that the stat increases are enough to wow you. Some where like a 50% increase as oppose to using +.1 damage.
Examples
- Inner Rage - increases strength and attack damage to your Barbarian
- Prismatic Cloak - adds more damage to defense skills and attacks enemies that attacks you.
- Legendary Might - increases attack speed
- Iron Skin - improves defense
-Talisman-
Mechanics
The Talisman feature has finally been revealed. It will be a system that will work in conjunction with charms to help customize your character. A UI included in the character screen, the Talisman will house the charms you use so you no longer have to waste inventory store holding them. Starting off with just one charm, the Talisman will increase in size as you level finishing with thirteen available slots.
Charms
Charms will act very similar to the charms in Diablo II. They will be random drops that you can collect to enhance and customize your character. However, in Diablo II, charms would have almost any random stat possible in the game. In Diablo III, charms will focus more on key attributes like increasing strength or health points. This will help alleviate the monotony of the auto-stat distribution.
-Skill Runes-
Mechanics
Skill Runes have finally made their way back into Diablo III. They have been reworked and are fully implemented into the game. There have been some changes to the skill runes since we last heard. Still random drops, the skill runes are added to your skills to augment their effects. There are officially five runes; Crimson, Indigo, Obsidian, Golden, and Alabaster. The original names of multi-strike and power were changed to allow a wide range of effects the runes can have on skills. With the amount of skills, skill runes, and choices, each class will now have 96,886,969,344 combinations of active skills. That is over 484 Billion builds including each class; obviously lending itself to character customization. Most of these skill changes will not only have a gameplay change but a visual change as well so you feel like you have actually changed your skill. Each rune will also have seven different grades ranging from stone which will cover levels one through and be found in Normal, silver which will be levels four and five and will be in Nightmare, and finishing with gold which will be levels six and seven and found in Hell setting. The rank will increase the effect the rune has on the skill. The example given was the Wizard's Magic Missile with the Indigo rune. It normally shoots one missile but increases to two with a level one rune. With the level seven rune, it jumps up to eight missiles.
Examples
Which Doctor's Blow Dart skill:- Regular - Blows out a dart
- Crimson - Adds fire damage
- Golden - Steals mana
- Obsidian - Slows target
- Indigo - Adds multiple darts
- Alabaster- Blows out a snake that stuns the target
- Regular - throws a weapon for basic damage\
- Crimson - Adds damage
- Obsidian - Turns into a stunning hammer
- Indigo - Adds ricochet
- Alabaster - Confuses target
- Golden - Throw a corpse instead of a weapon
- Regular - Summons a fire spitting hydra
- Crimson - Changes to short range frost
- Indigo - Creates a never missing lightning hydra
- Alabaster - Changes to a AoE arcane type
- Obsidian - Adds acid element
- Golden - Giant hydra that creates fire walls
- Regular - Summons out poison toads
- Crimson - Changes them to fire damage
- Golden - Reduces mana
- Alabaster - Blinds target
- Indigo - Causes the toads to rain down
- Obsidian - Giant toad that eats monsters
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ScyberDragon posted a message on Diablo III's PvP System to be Revealed at BlizzconAt this year's Blizzcon, Blizzard will be doing their best at creating a thriving interactive community. Part of doing this is a new feature they will be hosting, a place where the community can gather to talk about specific ideas of their games. For any of you who are planning on going, this new "chat room" may be something you want to fit into your Blizzcon schedule.Posted in: News & Announcements
So, how does this news help us find out that they will be talking about the new PvP system for Diablo III at Blizzcon? As mentioned, these rooms will have a schedule of what will be talked about. According to the Friday schedule:
Official Blizzard Quote:
Our primary motivator when hosting each BlizzCon is to provide an epic atmosphere for members of the community to meet up and share their common passion for Blizzard games. In keeping with that tradition, at this year's BlizzCon we'll be facilitating the first-ever BlizzChat: Community Live! Attendees will be given a venue to discuss a number of focused topics pertaining to the Diablo, StarCraft, and Warcraft universes and gameplay. If you're coming to BlizzCon at the Anaheim Convention Center this October 22 and 23, be sure to check out the schedule below. Don't miss the opportunity to share your thoughts on a wide array of subjects with fellow gaming enthusiasts.
Dueling has always been a big part of Diablo II and remains a huge factor in the game's logevity. However, there is obviously some major problems with the system. While they have not released any information on PvP in Diablo III yet, they have said it is something they want to improve from the older game. With a set time just to discuss PvP in this live chat, it is safe to assume that they will be giving us some information to talk about.
For more information on the new chat rooms and a full list of the schedules of topics, see here. - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
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