DiabloFans

I vote for a special textured Armor Dye! Maybe it could add an aura of light around you, or have black fog fall off your armor. Or something more creative..


There are many questions I'd love answered about these Dyes we haven't seen. If a rare Dye did something really fancy, would it effect your whole armor set? Or would you need to gather more of these rare Dyes.. Humm

Chances are there are some super rare Dyes that will apply more than just a color change :D.

Thanks!

I dig your username~ Mr.Diablo used to be my B.net account name way long ago. I think I mentioned that to you once before..

Since I minor in nutrition, and have been a personal trainer in the past, I fear my response might not be what you want to hear :P. Trust me though I'll be following my own advice on this.

So just like a professional athlete, the weeks before release I'll be sure to perfect my sleeping cycle to my needs. In this case you'll want to be able to stay up for a little longer than normal for a few days in order to game more, so you'll want to drink lots of water each day during the weeks prior, and slowly take 1-3 hours off your sleep hours each night until you feel you've reached your maximum asleep to awake limit. This takes a few weeks to figure out, and you don't want to try and stay up 16 hours a day right off the bat, you'll just crash. You want to figure out your balance; how many hours you can stay awake each day for a week without crashing. I find I need 6 hours of sleep a night to maintain a steady schedule.

For the super hardcore (And jobless ;)) gamers, you could try the Uberman, or other cycled styles.
For more info on this style just Google it!

As for food, I'll be eating very healthy the weeks before (As you always should as a hardcore gamer!). The day before release, I'll eat a very heavy, complex carb loaded meal for Dinner, just as athletes do before a big event. Doing so loads your body with stored energy for the day after, which can be used both mentally, and physically. For Breakfast I'll eat a egg/vegetable omelet, with orange juice and a side of fruit. For the other 5 meals I'll eat according to how I'm feeling energy wise. If I'm feeling good, I'll eat a very small meal, like a cup of yogurt. If I'm feeling drained, I'll eat some more carbs mixed with a white meat to boost my energy level.

Sodas, candies, packaged snacks, and sweets of any kind are your worst enemy with the intention of hardcore gaming. Have you ever eaten crappy all day then tried to game for a few hours? Your eyes strain after an hour or two, your mind feels foggy, your reaction time may be off, and you might even get cramps in your hands or neck. Not to mentioned you'll likely crash and start falling asleep. Many people blame this on gaming for too long, or being tired. These things may be a factor, but more often than not it's your diet, hydration level, and health level. I've playing games both console and PC for 14 hours + with little to no problems, and even slept fine right after.

If you eat right, drink a lot of water, and keep fit your gaming will go way up. Both in gameplay, and how long you can game at a single time without feeling fatigued. Hope this helps!

During the 2010 Blizzcon Diablo III Q&A Panel, Blizzard revealed that while players venture through Diablo III's three difficulties settings they will discover 18 unique tiers of armor.


Afterwards, Blizzard responded via their Twitter, clarifying how each item slot has 18 unique tiers.

Recently members of the official forums have started to voice their doubt that the 18 tiers will be enough to last through the entire game. The fear is that 18 tiers will be spread too thin over all normal, nightmare and hell difficulties. Recently Bashiok responded to a thread based on this topic.

By considering what Jay Wilson said in the 2010 Blizzcon Q&A response, and what Bashiok posted, we can gather there were 5 - 8 truly unique tiers of gear per item slot in Diablo 2, each resetting every difficulty back to tier one. A member farther clarified this, and in turn received assurance from Bashiok.

Each tier of gear will have its own unique icon which corresponds with the way it looks on your character. This is also discussed in the Blizzcon Panel at 3:32. Later in the thread, a member links a chart showing 15 different visual tiers of chest armor from Diablo II.

Speaking of the icons, yes each tier looks different. When looking at the characters though, most look almost indistinguishable. Bashiok follows this with examples of unique armor tiers on the Witch Doctor.

For the video of these examples, view 1:42 in the Blizzcon 2010 D3 Crafting Sanctuary Panel 4/4.

Next a member states how 18 tiers may not be enough to share through each act, in each difficulty. Bashiok responds explaining how there are 720 unique armor pieces in the game, not including weapons, or other item slots. Also in the mix are the dozen or so Armor Dyes which can be placed in each item slot to change its color. Bashiok also makes it clear that he is strictly speaking visually, and not about item stat variations.

Lastly, a member writes about how in Diablo II when you venture into a new act, you have a number of new armors available to you. Whereas in Diablo III less new tiers will be offered per act.

It's true in Diablo II, when entering a new act a number of new item tiers become available to you, some unique for that act. The problem is they repeat per difficulty, causing the visual tier to reset when advancing to a higher difficulty. In Diablo III this will not happen, as you progress through the game your character will aesthetically grow more and more impressive alongside your power. The effect is that your character feels more and more "awesome" both in gameplay, and visuals. For more information on Items, or anything else Diablo, be sure to visit our Wiki.

If downloading it is to much of a hassle you can us www.systemrequirementslab.com to check how your PC would hold up to SC2 as well. I did both, just to make sure and found that I could run SC2 a little better than the test said I could, so it's up to you.

As last we heard, each player rolls separately. Meaning if four players were in a game and killed a boss, one player could get three rare items, and the other 3 could get nothing.

Keep in mind, in case you have continuous bad luck, crafting will be a viable means of acquiring gear also.

I'd like it if these were brought into the game. An idea I had a while ago would also be feasible in this case. One type of reward for Arena battle achievements could be special character emotes, weather it be speech, an movement, or both.

Quote from Ophion

Probably for patches, and quests are just the kind of things they can keep working on almost to the day of release. Many quests are, as you might know, randomized so adding more quests means more variety.

I think that they specifically stated that they aren't thinking about expansions right now, but I don't believe that one bit since Diablo III is pretty much guaranteed to sell very well and deserve expansions just as much as Starcraft II. They know it, they just don't want to talk about it.

I very much believe we'll be getting a slow yet steady stream of content aside from any major happenings like expansions. Some quests here, some gear there and so on. Seeing as we only have WoW to look at for examples, I think it's just how Blizzard likes to handle RPGs.

I also don't believe for a minute they haven't had hours worth of discussions on expansions. As I see it, it would be irresponsible not to. One thing that always comes to mind on this topic is how they developed the 5 classes we have. In order for extra characters in the future to fit correctly in with the current five certain themes had to be completely left out.

To most of you Runestones are not cutting edge news. Since their fresh debut at Blizzcon 2010 Runestones have been popularized as a powerful feature in Diabo 3; adding a whole new level of skill customization we've never seen before in the Diablo franchise. Runestones have had multiple debuts prior to this last Blizzcon though. At Blizzcon 2008 Runestones were also demoed. While their general function hasn't changed through their development, both their UI, and name for each of the five runes have. Moving from names such as Lethality, Multistrike, and Power to the names Energy, Viper, Hydra, Force, and Striking was the first step towards our current model. A constant throughout each refresh has been that each rune has kept a mildly predictable effect. The name transitions from Multistrike, to Hydra, and now the Indigo Rune hint at the fact that the Indigo Rune still primarily adds multistrike to most skills. An example of this can be seen in the Blizzcon 2011 Crafting Sanctuary Panel, when Julian Love showed how an Indigo Rune effects the as seen here. Though runes still have a general theme, originally each rune had a very strict effect, with little to no room for off the wall skill variations. While some of each rune's predictability still exists, the new names open up more possibilities.

The switch to the current names was made to bring a similar feeling of origin to all the runes. Furthermore the current names allow the development team to vary the effects each rune could have on a skill. As before with strict, predictable names for each rune, strange variations such as the Witch Doctor's Plaque of Toads skill, where when an Obsidian Rune is place in it; instead of casting multiple small toads, you summon one giant toad which eats nearby monsters whole. That would hardly fit the description for any of the older rune names. Another example of a skill which wouldn't have fit in the original Runestone model is the Indigo Rune in the Wizard's Ray of Frost skill which turns the skill from a focused beam of frost damage, to a AoE around the Wizard. This can be seen in Force's Runestone - Game systems video.


With the possibility that a rune will have an unforeseeable effect on a skill; one might ask how'd you know this before placing the rune into the skill? Bashiok provides us with an answer.

As of late, Magistrate promptly Covered Runestones, alongside the official cut of the Talisman. Before that Jackzor did an in depth article on Runestone's Levels and Progression. Hype about the rune system doesn't seem to be dying down, and for good reason. On a single class with every skill, and runestone taken into account there are over 96,000,000 possible combinations. To qoute Julian Love, Lead Technical Artist for Diablo III.

While keeping in mind the majority of that number consists of low level skills combined with low level runes; one has to wonder how many viable builds there will be come endgame. For further information on Runestones feel free to visit our Runestones wiki page, the Official Diablo Runestones page, view Blizzcon 2010 footage at our youtube channel, TheChatGem, or read any of the past articles linked. Concerning last week's poll on Blizzcon Ticket Prices, just under half of the voters felt that the "Ticket price doesn't matter compared to travel and other costs". Between plane tickets, a hotel room, and food the expense of the event ticket doesn't seem to stand out.

As for this week's poll, Runestones will surely be an excellent system by keeping skills fresh for long after release. So, What are your preferable rune effects?

A lot of the people complaining about not having competitive pvp are "competitive gamers".

To me, a competitive gamer is a person who cannot play a game unless it involves competing with others. I know a guy like this. This person literally doesn't enjoy ANY game, unless it is "winning" at something with a defined score and opponent to defeat. The term win does not include beating a game. I'm talking about the guy who only plays games with a singular goal of winning.

Opinion: These people completely miss the point of video games in the first place. They garner some misplaced e-peen pride from winning in-game, while completely failing or avoiding their lives. They crave this sense of self worth via a video game. If there is no such goal, the game is useless to them.

Because of this, they do not actually enjoy the game. They take no time to appreciate the game itself. They take pleasure in one thing and one thing only. Winning.

These people are not gamers by my personal standards. They're just people with unfulfilled dreams that they make up for, via winning in video games.

From personal experience: They are rude, with no sense of sportsmanship(aka don't say gg when they lose and boast and gloat and antagonize when they win), and very trolly.

However, I'm not saying that everyone who wants PVP is among this crowd. But they are certainly a part of the driving force behind it.


Edit: Also, there is NOTHING wrong with competing via video games. I'm not saying that. I certainly have my own fair share of e-peen when it comes to some games like Halo and Wc3(sc2? ehh not so much). And we all know that competing is incredibly fun. It's the driving force behind online gaming which is so crucial to our ever evolving community of gamers. However, if competing is your only enjoyment..well..you read the thread.

thanks for the thank you

you will see more updates soon tm.

my hands hurt.

finally updated the wiki with this new content and i think we should start consolidating all information.


http://www.diablowik...9#Active_Skills
http://www.diablowik...#Passive_Skills
http://www.diablowik...arbarian_Skills

http://www.diablowik...r#Active_Skills
http://www.diablowik...#Passive_Skills
http://www.diablowik...n_Hunter_Skills

http://www.diablowik...k#Active_Skills
http://www.diablowik...#Passive_Skills
http://www.diablowik...ate:Monk_Skills

http://www.diablowik...r#Active_Skills
http://www.diablowik...#Passive_Skills
http://www.diablowik...h_Doctor_Skills

http://www.diablowik...d#Active_Skills
http://www.diablowik...#Passive_Skills
http://www.diablowik...e:Wizard_Skills

Yes the movement speed is fast, this is because there is no stamina in D3. In Diablo 2 there was a walk speed, and a run speed which used stamina. This feature was supposed to help prevent players from kiting monsters effectively, though at high levels your stamina was almost unlimited. In Diablo 3 they did away with this feature all together, so to compensate they uped the movement speed slightly.

Quote from SFJake

Times have changed. Yet another brainwashed excuse. Times haven't changed. People are just excessivelly gullible and love to being told what they want.

And I fail to see yet again, how all of the things that the server handles have to be put in the single player version. Knowing where in the single player code an item is dropped should not even be relevant. Why would it be the same than in the secure multiplayer?

How much more security does it add for people to not have access to these things? Really, how much? Even if they know how it works in single player, they can't just suddenly hack through to the server and tell him what he wants to hear. Once in multiplayer, the security stuff is in place, unlike offline, and the server handles everything he needs to.

What difference does it make? I don't even see it.

It's not a brainwashed excuse. It's simply the truth. The gaming industry has changed, a lot, in 13 years. Gaming is moving more and more to online, connected communities. It sucks for those people who simply can't afford a solid connection or have no viable options, but then again, that isn't blizzards fault (nor problem). Judging by the number of people who play WoW, there seems to be no lack of people with internet connections willing to play.

Are you kidding? It would be the same, because it's the same game?? Do you expect item drops and randomization to be handled by the client any differently than it would connected to the server? Do you have any concept of how a game engine works? At the end of the day, what you need to understand is, the client doesn't have the info to make any of that function without talking to the server (thus being ONLINE).

I suppose that is the problem, you don't see it so it doesn't exist?? Hackers not having access to the actual code that handles item drops, monster spawning etc is a HUGE deal. Granted it won't stop 100% of hacking (nothing ever will) but it sure as hell will slow them down a ton and will cut back on the number of hackers.

Quote from SFJake

Quote from proletaria

What does this mean and what are you referring to? Jay said they'd make a console version if it would make a good game. I don't see any problem with Blizzard making good games, regardless of platform. Why be so phobic of such things?

You misunderstand. I'm not talking about developing on console as well, but forgetting the PC players entirely and dedicating their games for console. That was not aimed at Blizzard.

Quote from proletaria

I don't know where you got that from. I've always seen D3 refrenced as a foremost online cooperative game. If anyone is selfish it's the single-player minority who'd rather see the game tailored to their needs. And please note, i'm agnotic about the whole situation. If an offline singleplayer is made avalible that's fine. I just don't feel compelled to fight for it and I think dogging Blizzard about abandoning single player (as though internet connections were hard to come by these days) is poor form and (as previously noted) especially ironic when done through an internet forum.

Seek out old Blue posts. Even they have said so. Battle.net was a bonus to D2. The games were designed for Single Player and expanded from that. And I fail to see how adding an offline mode totally on the side is asking the game to be "tailored to our needs".

And no, not everybody has internet or more importantly, a good, stable one. Even a dodgy connection of which there are plenty will not be able to enjoy D3 as much.

They are abandoning offline single player for the sake of some security, SP players who have supported their previous games (again, they themselves I'm pretty sure, but I won't find the quote for you, have said a good portion of the community doesn't even go on battle.net in D2), and its not like the formula of the game has changed. Its the same thing, but some people are denied the offline single player, which also comes hand in hand with the removal of the rights for mods, for a little security, and you find it selfish that we want that?

I don't see how shutting people out in any way, and how we are whining about it makes us selfish. You claim this game was always intended as an online game but both previous games clearly were not just that.

It's not just "some security". Do you understand the security and risks involved with the Real Money Auction House? This is one of the reasons the game is designed as Online only. The game is set up like WoW in a way. it's a client (what you install on your PC) and server system. Important information such as character, items drop tables, monster spawning and randomization, dungeon tile randomization etc are all handled by the server. The client you install is unable to run an "offline" singleplayer because it's missing all the info above. They did this for a very valid reason and believe me it didn't happen over night. They knew probably since the start this was going to be an Online only game.

Also, just because D1 and D2 had singleplayer (I wouldn't go so far as to say it was the primary focus, it was not) doesn't mean D3 has to. It's been 13 years since the last instalment for crying out loud. Times have changed.

Since the first announcement of the PvP interview segment with Jay, and from Sixen's Press Event article. Unfortunately the Beta will be lacking the PvP portion of the game all together. Seeing as this information won't be materialized in game for us until release, following the PvP development is the closest we can get to playing it.

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Changes/Additions



In the PvP model at Blizzcon, when you died you were out until the round ended, only able to view the battle from a ghost form which is incapable of interacting with the battle. This caused some gameplay issues seeing as it would always end up being a "last man standing" situation, which Blizzard didn't feel suited their casual approach to PvP. As of now the PvP system supports a team death match style of spawning, where when you die you have X seconds until you respawn into battle. This system bases the winning team off total kills between all players on the team. As team death matches tend to go, the round ends when either team hits the kill cap, or the time limit runs out. Through internal testing they found that players generally enjoyed the PvP experience more seeing as they felt like death didn't remove them from the game. Blizzard also found that this gave players a chance to figure out counters to the opposing team's strategy, which often made for epic come backs.

With the announcement of the real currency auction house came some concerns about how this will effect the PvP system. The fear is as with Diablo 2's third party vendors, a player willing to spend the money can simply buy their way to victory. Although Blizzard won't be creating, or selling items themselves the ability to buy items, and thus power still remains via purchasing from other players through the AH. In Blizzard's eyes this is all the more reason to avoid a hyper competitive PvP environment.

This power purchasing situation is unavoidable, players will find a way to buy items no matter what. The concept of a separate Arena for non-currency traded items only has been brought up among PvP enthusiasts. Problem is this would segregate the PvP community, which is something Blizzard stands firmly against.

Due to the integrated match-making system even if someone spent the money on a leveled character, and all the greatest gear, they would be matched with players with similar character capability. So chances are buying all perfect end game gear for PvP will just pit you against very high caliber players, not some noobs you can smash.


Moving along to PvP player caps, the Blizzcon PvP model only supported 2v2, and 3v3; limiting the player cap to 6. The reasoning behind this low number is not due to technical limitations, but rather clean gameplay, and low visual pollution; same as the 4 player cap in PvE. Many players bring up how Diablo 2 had an 8 player cap. Diablo 3 isn't Diablo 2, both player and monster skills are more visually flashy in D3. Through internal testing they've found the sweet spot for PvP player caps sits between 6 and 8 (3v3 or 4v4). The current 3v3 PvP limitation isn't finalized, as Blizzard is currently testing 4v4 matches in the Arena.

The infamous Hardcore PvP mode has yet to be discussed thoroughly, likely because it seems to be constantly undergoing changes. On the topic of HC Arena deaths, it turns out Jay's ability to get a crowd cheering isn't enough to sell the rest of the development team his views on Hardcore mode. At Blizzcon while talking about the HC Arena, his response to death in the mode was as follows:

While the crowd seemed to be all for it at the time, since then a lot of controversy has been stirring in the community expressing how there is a good portion of HC players that don't like this concept. These HC players feel they should be able to participate in PvP with their HC character without risking so much. Blizzard has yet to finalize their plans for the PvP HC mode, but never the less Jay had something to say about it at the recent Beta meeting.


Non-competitive PvP Environment Blizzard has long made games based on close competition. Ranging from the calculated multitasking of StarCraft, to the skill casting hot key tracking ways of World of Warcraft. In both franchises the games have been balanced around PvP; Diablo 3 will be different. Blizzard has chosen to persistently steer clear of heated competition while developing Diablo 3. Determine to base the game around PvE, it seems PvP comes secondary when making development decisions.

Skills in PvP will not be reworked from the ground up, but will instead be tweaked via under-the-hood changes. Things such as stun, freeze, or snare effects will be tuned down for PvP separate from PvE. A main reason for Blizzard not completely overhauling each skill for PvP separately is that it would cause your character to play very differently in PvP than in PvE, thus causing a disconnection of the gametypes. Even further detailing this concept, Force asked Jay Wilson about this during their interview over at Blizzard headquarters.

During this interview Sixen asked Jay if the community were to try to turn PvP into an e-sport, would Blizzard stop them in any way? The simple answer is no, they would not. Jay goes on to explain how they wouldn't stop them, but they sure won't support them. Blizzard doesn't plan on extensively balancing PvP, if a player base wishes to form a e-sport like group it seems they'll have to deal with the imbalances that will come with the PvP game.

Many players who understand these concepts ask the question, why can't they just balance PvP completely separately from PvE? Or add features that a lot of the PvP player base wants. The way the development team is approaching this is black and white, either they market PvP as an e-sport and add all the e-sport features, or they don't add any of those features in at all. Seeing as they have limited time and money, choices have to be made on where they can put their effort into.

On the topic of PvP ranking, currently there is no true ranking system. Along with this, they do not plan to track stats for the purpose of displaying them, but instead to form a fair and accurate match-making system. The reasoning for not visually tracking stats is no one likes losses on their record, some players are so irked by them, they'll recycle accounts to improve their stats, sometimes spending large amounts of money in the process.

Instead of a stat based ranking system, players will have a PvP "level" that will be viewable right on your character banner. These levels are progressed through by simply playing the PvP game mode. Winning will progress you faster through the levels, but it is possible to reach the same levels no matter how much you lose. Jay touches on this during an interview with Force. There will also be no win/loss ratio stats being tracked. Your PvP level will represent how much time you've played in the Arena, not at all being based on any sort of ratios.

Rewards, and Wishlist Features.


While understanding Blizzard's firm stance on a casual PvP mode one might ask, what features will PvP be lacking?

One idea currently endangered is the spectator mode. In StarCraft2 this feature is necessary considering the e-sport aspect of the game. In Diablo 3 the feature still has a niche, and surely would be entertaining but due to the time constraints the development team is under, unnecessary features are put on the back burner.

Another common request regarding PvP is the addition of secondary game types such as CTF, VIP, or a type of "Horde Mode". While Jay didn't completely shoot down these ideas, he explained how at the moment their focus is to polish the current PvP model.

These features may not be lost forever though, as the development team sees the fun in them and hopes to add them in sometime after release. Secondary game types can flourish if done properly, SC2 being an excellent example of this with their very popular tower defense games just as one example. Diablo 3 certainly has the capability to support a massive array of secondary game types for when PvE and PvP just aren't enough, the question is if or when they will be implemented.

Another wishlist feature is a wagering system, where a player could bet gold, or possibly real currency on a PvP match. This feature would have to go hand and hand with the spectator feature. It was not denied to be possible, but since it does suit an e-sport like setup, there will surely be resistance to it's implementing.


As for rewards is seems there will be many achievements to complete in PvP, which could provide some type of reward. There are also titles, which will likely be similar to the Diablo 2 title system.

• PvP Crest (Top of the banner): Where your PvP, "Level" will be showcased on your banner.
• Achievement Tally Marker: Your completed achievements will be showcased on either side of your banner.
• Highest Completed Difficulty Status: Highest difficulty completion is shown.
• Hardcore Identifier: Do you not fear death?
• Party Member Listing: Each player in your party is represented by their unique banner flag.
• Quick Join Listing: Located under the banner, you'll be able to join other players also looking for matches.
• "Social" Button: Presumably all of your friends will be listed, even while playing other Blizzard games.
• Profile (Helm): Where you view your in-game possessions and character details.
• Achievements (Shield): View you achievement progress.
• Auction House (Gavel): Links directly to the AH.
• Drop Listing: (Bottom left) This drop listing hasn't been detailed, though from its location it could have something to do with the chat box.
• Chat Box : Can't have Diablo without one!
• General Menu Listing:

All in all Blizzard has taken a different approach to PvP in Diablo 3. Instead of being the end game jewel it was for Diablo 2, it is now simply another way to test your character with friends. Through extensive PvE development, we can only hope there is a lasting PvE endgame being stowed away beyond our knowledge, since PvP isn't looking to be developed to fill in endgame content. Although PvP is not the main focus of the development team, it is sure to acquire a fan base all its own.

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Be sure to check out Sixen's Give Me Options or Give Me DEATH! article where you can vote on your preferred type of auction house, and listen to DiabloCast Episode 20.

Get pumped for the Beta by reading Magistrate's More Beta Buildup article.

Don't forget to update your Beta profile! More details in ScyberDragon's Important Beta Profile Update article.

Here's mine;

Quote from HunterSCtv

The significance of a level 60 cap is lost on me, it makes no difference. At the end of the day, having a lvl cap of 60 just means that each level is slightly more meaningful in character development but doesn't change the gameplay at all.

Here's a more retailed quote by Bashiok on this topic.

Quote from HunterSCtv

For all we know, getting to level 60 in D3 could take as long as it did in D2 (pre patch 1.10 i suppose). I'm sure one will have to grind pretty hard to reach the limit-

Blizzard has stated many times you'll likely reach level 60, max level, by the end of hell. Also important to note, Blizzard has said Diablo 3 will be slightly larger regarding content in each act compared to Diablo 2, with each act becoming shorter and more chaotic rushing you towards the final conclusion.

Quote from HunterSCtv

-Blizzard may raise it in the upcoming 2 expansions.

They have also not denied the possibility of expanding the max level with expansions, I personally expect that.

I know it's a silly thing to bicker about, but I gotta agree with you pwnsickle, I don't like how the skill looks.

I don't mind the jar at all, he's a Witch Doctor, jars are a part of his culture. I do however mind two things, the spider just appears when the jar breaks; I'd like to see some kind of smooth spawning graphic, which I know is hard considering how quickly the skill activates. Secondly and more unreasonable, the spider's movement speed doesn't match its walking animations, where as for example the zombie dogs has very fluid movement that looks believable.

The spawning part I understand, there are only so many frames to play with to make the animations look good. This was brought up in a Blue post a while back, how D3 has a much higher FPS cap than D2, thus more room to create animations, so I would like to see that improve, though if it didn't I wouldn't really care.

The terrible movement animations have no technical reason to be so bad come release. To me the spider looks like a big toy, again in comparison with the awesome looking zombie dogs with their smooth movement animations in conjunction with their movement speed. Right now it's still early in the polishing stage of development though, if polishing has even started at all, so it's understandable as of now.

We also have to realize that it's not a true pet skill, so the team might not put as much effort into it.