GamersCrib
07-01-2008, 10:36 AM
There was a article written up today by someone at Shacknews (http://www.Shacknews.com) on some of the new features and things that will come with Diablo 3 (www.blizzard.com/diablo3/). Lets look at the list:
1. General Overview
* Largely follows in the style of past Diablo games.
* Controls and camera kept simple, but depth of combat enhanced.
* The story takes place 20 years after the events of Diablo II.
* Greater emphasis has been placed on a character-driven story.
* Targeting a length similar to Diablo II, which ran four acts.
* Uses a new in-house 3D engine and the Havok physics engine.
* Has been in development for four or five years. Was rebooted after Blizzard North shut down in March 2005.
* The game is "really far along," and is "really fun to play already." (Source: GameSpot)
* Dev team now up to 50-55 employees.
* Will ship simultaneously on Mac and PC.
* No plans for a console version.
* No decisions made on financial model.
* Blizzard challenged themselves to add color to the art style while maintaining the dark, gothic feel of the previous titles.
2. Gameplay
* Heavy focus on encouraging cooperative play.
* Higher difficulty levels.
* Mixes randomized and static maps as in Diablo II.
* Hardcore mode likely to return. "Don't see why we wouldn't do it."
* Less focus on potions in order to emphasize skill use. Monsters can drop instant health regen orbs which heal anybody nearby in your party.
* Trading will be improved over the ad-hoc Diablo II experience, but nothing like an "auction house" system has been confirmed.
* Much more vertical terrain. Bridges, ladders, etc.
* Destructible environments, that can also hurt enemies via Havok physics engine.
* Town portal system will "probably" be changed to speed up gameplay.
* Mounts not seen as necessary.
* Booby traps return.
* Helper/bodyguard NPCs are back.
3. Questing
* There will be class-based quests in addition to main storyline quests.
* A new "Adventure" system will power randomly generated scripted events. An example provided was an area the player would come across, such as an old abandoned house, that may have a story behind it and enemies to dispatch.
* A new conversation system will see fully-voiced characters interacting with each other.
* Loot is now generated per player. You only see the loot that you can pick up, which Blizzard hopes will create a spirit of cooperation.
* Color-coded items, uniques, runes, and other conventions return, in addition to identifying scrolls.
4. Interface
* The user interface has been kept very similar to Diablo II.
* The new hotbar acts like an abbreviated four-slot form of a World of Warcraft hotbar, with additional slots for scrolls.
* Players will be able to quickswap between skills using the mouse wheel or tab key.
* Isometric view that can be zoomed in, but not zoomed far out.
* Item slots: helm, shoulders, gloves, body, pants, boots, belt, two rings, amulet.
* Damage-per-second variable on items.
* Items all take up one inventory slot--no more shuffling that giant spear around.
* Hit point numbers now appear above monsters after critical hits.
* Buffs are now displayed as an icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.
* Gold is now automatically picked up.
5. Multiplayer
* Drop in/drop out cooperative play over Battle.net.
* There will be a single realm/region for North America.
* The game can support about eight players in multiplayer, but currently plays better with around five. The maximum has not yet been decided upon.
* Battle.net will receive new upgrades, some of which will be seen in StarCraft II.
* Blizzard is looking at Battle.net features that will increase player accountability in order to cut down on annoying jerks.
* Blizzard is looking at integrating web community features, such as a WoW Armory-like website that would allow players to show off their characters outside of the game.
6. Classes
* Five total character classes.
* Players will be able to choose a male or female variant of each class.
* Confirmed classes:
Witch Doctor
o Hails from the Teganze, an area of the Torajan jungles.
o A self-sacrificing people that believe in an alternate reality called the Unformed Land, which the Witch Doctors are able to tap into for their powers.
o Similar to Necromancer in function, but not necessarily intended as a replacement.
o Confirmed abilities:
+ Firebomb: grenade-like AoE (Area of Effect) fire spell.
+ Horrify: AoE fear spell, causes most creatures to run away)
+ Locust Swarm: summons a swarm of insects that literally devour clusters of enemies, leaving nothing but bones.
+ Mongrel: summons a demon dog from a skeleton. Casting locust swarm on a mongrel adds disease damage to its attacks. Intentionally destroying the mongrel damages nearby enemies.
+ Mass Confusion: temporarily turns a group of enemies against each other.
+ Soul Harvest: AoE spell that kills an enemy and converts it into mana.
+ Wall of Zombies: firewall-like spell that summons a line of zombies which stand and swing at nearby enemies.
Barbarian
o The Mount Arreat area, home of the barbarians, was devastated in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. The barbarian people have subsequently fallen into decline.
o Some barbarians have been turned into inhuman beasts.
o Confirmed abilities:
+ Cleave: hits multiple enemies in one swing.
+ Ground Stomp: a thundering AoE stun.
+ Leap: precision jump that destroys enemies on landing.
+ Seismic Slam: the Barbarian slams the ground, creating a directed shockwave that can hit multiple enemies in a line.
+ Whirlwind: a reckless spinning attack that takes out any enemy in the Barbarian's path.
Other classes are still not fully decided upon by Blizzard, but obvious choices for launch or expansion are some kind of Archer and Sorceror.
To see this list at its original location, the rest of the list and some links to download/stream video's of certain aspects you can go here. (http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=909)
1. General Overview
* Largely follows in the style of past Diablo games.
* Controls and camera kept simple, but depth of combat enhanced.
* The story takes place 20 years after the events of Diablo II.
* Greater emphasis has been placed on a character-driven story.
* Targeting a length similar to Diablo II, which ran four acts.
* Uses a new in-house 3D engine and the Havok physics engine.
* Has been in development for four or five years. Was rebooted after Blizzard North shut down in March 2005.
* The game is "really far along," and is "really fun to play already." (Source: GameSpot)
* Dev team now up to 50-55 employees.
* Will ship simultaneously on Mac and PC.
* No plans for a console version.
* No decisions made on financial model.
* Blizzard challenged themselves to add color to the art style while maintaining the dark, gothic feel of the previous titles.
2. Gameplay
* Heavy focus on encouraging cooperative play.
* Higher difficulty levels.
* Mixes randomized and static maps as in Diablo II.
* Hardcore mode likely to return. "Don't see why we wouldn't do it."
* Less focus on potions in order to emphasize skill use. Monsters can drop instant health regen orbs which heal anybody nearby in your party.
* Trading will be improved over the ad-hoc Diablo II experience, but nothing like an "auction house" system has been confirmed.
* Much more vertical terrain. Bridges, ladders, etc.
* Destructible environments, that can also hurt enemies via Havok physics engine.
* Town portal system will "probably" be changed to speed up gameplay.
* Mounts not seen as necessary.
* Booby traps return.
* Helper/bodyguard NPCs are back.
3. Questing
* There will be class-based quests in addition to main storyline quests.
* A new "Adventure" system will power randomly generated scripted events. An example provided was an area the player would come across, such as an old abandoned house, that may have a story behind it and enemies to dispatch.
* A new conversation system will see fully-voiced characters interacting with each other.
* Loot is now generated per player. You only see the loot that you can pick up, which Blizzard hopes will create a spirit of cooperation.
* Color-coded items, uniques, runes, and other conventions return, in addition to identifying scrolls.
4. Interface
* The user interface has been kept very similar to Diablo II.
* The new hotbar acts like an abbreviated four-slot form of a World of Warcraft hotbar, with additional slots for scrolls.
* Players will be able to quickswap between skills using the mouse wheel or tab key.
* Isometric view that can be zoomed in, but not zoomed far out.
* Item slots: helm, shoulders, gloves, body, pants, boots, belt, two rings, amulet.
* Damage-per-second variable on items.
* Items all take up one inventory slot--no more shuffling that giant spear around.
* Hit point numbers now appear above monsters after critical hits.
* Buffs are now displayed as an icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.
* Gold is now automatically picked up.
5. Multiplayer
* Drop in/drop out cooperative play over Battle.net.
* There will be a single realm/region for North America.
* The game can support about eight players in multiplayer, but currently plays better with around five. The maximum has not yet been decided upon.
* Battle.net will receive new upgrades, some of which will be seen in StarCraft II.
* Blizzard is looking at Battle.net features that will increase player accountability in order to cut down on annoying jerks.
* Blizzard is looking at integrating web community features, such as a WoW Armory-like website that would allow players to show off their characters outside of the game.
6. Classes
* Five total character classes.
* Players will be able to choose a male or female variant of each class.
* Confirmed classes:
Witch Doctor
o Hails from the Teganze, an area of the Torajan jungles.
o A self-sacrificing people that believe in an alternate reality called the Unformed Land, which the Witch Doctors are able to tap into for their powers.
o Similar to Necromancer in function, but not necessarily intended as a replacement.
o Confirmed abilities:
+ Firebomb: grenade-like AoE (Area of Effect) fire spell.
+ Horrify: AoE fear spell, causes most creatures to run away)
+ Locust Swarm: summons a swarm of insects that literally devour clusters of enemies, leaving nothing but bones.
+ Mongrel: summons a demon dog from a skeleton. Casting locust swarm on a mongrel adds disease damage to its attacks. Intentionally destroying the mongrel damages nearby enemies.
+ Mass Confusion: temporarily turns a group of enemies against each other.
+ Soul Harvest: AoE spell that kills an enemy and converts it into mana.
+ Wall of Zombies: firewall-like spell that summons a line of zombies which stand and swing at nearby enemies.
Barbarian
o The Mount Arreat area, home of the barbarians, was devastated in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. The barbarian people have subsequently fallen into decline.
o Some barbarians have been turned into inhuman beasts.
o Confirmed abilities:
+ Cleave: hits multiple enemies in one swing.
+ Ground Stomp: a thundering AoE stun.
+ Leap: precision jump that destroys enemies on landing.
+ Seismic Slam: the Barbarian slams the ground, creating a directed shockwave that can hit multiple enemies in a line.
+ Whirlwind: a reckless spinning attack that takes out any enemy in the Barbarian's path.
Other classes are still not fully decided upon by Blizzard, but obvious choices for launch or expansion are some kind of Archer and Sorceror.
To see this list at its original location, the rest of the list and some links to download/stream video's of certain aspects you can go here. (http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=909)