Diablo III

[Immortal]

Originally Posted by n0rth

Well i just came across something interesting on

THIS SITE!

Rumor: Diablo III On the Way? You Better Believe It!

Diablo Foxtrot Style!

It looks like the Diablo III rumor mill has started up once again with a seemingly innocent post on the jobs section of the Blizzard web site. A few days ago they posted a job for an art director and various leads to join "the team behind Diablo I and II" for "an unannounced PC project." I have been getting some inquires since then if Blizzard is indeed working on Diablo III and when is it going to come out?

Well, before I answer let me mention a few things. First, I don't want to get any of my friends at Blizzard in trouble, so from instead of mentioning "Diablo III" let's call this theoretical game "Beelzebub 3" and instead of "Blizzard" let's call them "Snowstorm". Second, my information is quality stuff, but it is a little old, so take that with a gain of salt. Third, err, well, there is no third, so let's get into what I know!

Let's the obvious out of way, "Snowstorm" is indeed working on "Beelzebub 3". Not only are they working on it, but they have been working on this game for no less than the past four years. In fact, "Snowstorm North" nearly completed the game several years ago, but what they developed just "wasn't fun" and been quietly reworked. This was actually one of the key reasons why Snowstorm North was closed and everyone was relocated to Irvine-based Snowstorm, so that the bigwigs in Irvine could better track and follow the development of Beelzebub 3.

As for what to expect in to see in Beelzebub 3, believe it or not but those rumors that were floating around a few months ago about the game were fairly accurate (by the way, I have no idea who started these rumors or where they came from). According to the rumors:

"Diablo 3 takes place in heaven. Hell is trying to take it over and it is AWESOME looking … Imagine the brightness of heaven being taken over by the darkness of hell … Imagine WoW but in a Diablo world in amount of size and playability … Also, guild housing is available in this game for those of you who know about it."

This information was pretty dead-on. It is true that Beelzebub 3 will be done in true 3D and it did indeed look freaking awesome. It is also true that Beelzebub 3 features a story between the conflicts of Heaven and Hell and contains a very cool feature where every single item in the game can change between a "light" version and a "dark" version. However this was also one of the problems with the original version of the game. Other than the ability for any item to visually change from light to dark it didn't affect the actual stats of the item or change the gameplay in any way. So the game has gone through a total rework to inject some "fun" into the gameplay and to make it feel like the Beelzebubs of old.

The core gameplay Beelzebub 3 will play pretty much like Beelzebub 1 and 2, but the game world will be much larger and provide a much deeper experience -- many more items, more levels when you go through the game for first time, more skills, more of everything. In addition, the multiplayer aspect will be greatly enhanced from the past installments and don't be surprised to see more than a couple of WoW-based concepts to leak over into the Beelzebub 3 universe ... such as two opposing factions (Alliance and Horde = Heaven and Hell), enhanced guild functionality, and maybe even mounts?!

As for when Beelzebub 3 will released, that one is easy to answer ... when it's done. Snowstorm is in no rush to finish this game and will release it only after they feel it's perfect. And after the fiasco of StarCraft: Ghost -- which has been announced for years and is currently going through its second round of redesign and reprogramming -- Snowstorm is in no rush to announce Beelzebub 3. Don't except an announcement until the game is near completion.

But there is some good news; that "leak" on the Snowstorm jobs page was no accident. If they are starting to leak information about Beelzebub 3 then they are starting to get closer to a final release. Of course for Snowstorm something "getting close" can mean two years from now.

Hopefully that will hold everyone over for the short term. Hopefully Beelzebub 3 will be announced at the next E3, I'll try to find out more before then and give everyone the dirt as I get it.

WoooHOOOOOOOOOO Diablo 3 actually is gonna come out

[Salidin54]

Originally Posted by sebastientj

i hear (rumours) that maybe a world of starcraft is comming out? maybe its jsut a dif name for starcraft : ghost.
mm well correct me if im wrong and type a message if you think im cool :P just pulling you're leg(s)
well have fun. PS: im new too this forum so.....be nice

World of starcraft has been discredited by blizzard, so no luck there. Starcraft ghost is coming out with starcraft 2 and is going to be an FPS. On the Diablo 2 battle.net forum a while ago blizzard confirmed the work of a Diablo 3 but said they are waiting to release its work to the general public until they had some real headway. As of yet i haven't heard anything more about it other than starcraft 2 is blizzard's top priorety.

One thing the Diablo team could do is make better graphics seriously and copy Titan Quest as much as possible and no lagging

Titan Quest graphics would be awesome so long as they stayed away from the rest of the game, it seemed like a semi-decent spin-off of Diablo that I just got bored of before i could finish Egypt.

[Siberys]

I'd actually prefer them to not update the graphics. Sure, maybe throw in a polygon instead of making everything a square in the game, but too much of an update to the graphics will take away the integrity and respect I have for the diablo series.

Sadly though, I don't have much anyways, considering that the guys who made the diablo series what it is aren't even with blizzard anymore.

[-.Police.-]

I just want to see blizzard keep with the crafting, and runewords, It would be awesome to be able to completely craft all your gear using runes, gems, jewels, whatever, than be able to upgrade them.. this would allow low level characters to harness their skills with their gear, while letting higher levels / richer players create there very own unique gear. I think they just need to create more player created items, that are awesome, with more expense attached.

Also I think it would be awesome if they could simplify trading, making gold the primary trading item, to do this items would have to be able to be bought at merchants, but it would simplify the whole game, and would allow players to become better merchants..

[drazac]

Hello to all...

Its offical... Blizzard announced Diablo 3 on WorldWide Invitational '08

They showcased Barbarian and Witch-doctor gameplay and co-op feature



Link: News: Diablo III Announced - GamersHell.com

[DaveO]

I'm sure I'll get flamed for what I'm about to say, but I was not that impressed with the gameplay or cinematics. It just seemed too much of an evolution of the game, and not really a revolution that would rock fans. With the content out there now, I can sum up Diablo 3 in six words: I came, I saw, I yawned.

[Dottie]

I'm rather happy with what I saw. I don't wont any revolution, and I don't wont stupid side quests or story, I just want them to keep the fast paced action and the strategy element in character building. They don't reveal much about the later, but there is nothing in the trailer that suggests it's going to be removed IMO.

[fedenet89]

The only thing i didn´t like at all, was the gender selection, could this mena the end of the amazon and sorceres?, my two favorite d2 characters.

what do you think about the requisites? would they be very high, I don´t think so, the game looks like AoE 3

[Siberys]

Umm....a male amazon is a barbarian and a male sorceress is a sorcerer, there's very little difference. Gender is for flavor, not for in game rules and stuff.

[Caden]

^ Not really Siberys. The amazon and sorceress were part of all female clans that didn't accept men or teach them their ways. Diablo may allow us to play the male sorcerers of D1 and the female sorceresses of D2, but they would have different spells and spell systems. The amazon and barbarian are quite different as well. The amazons have a greek-phalanx type of combat and the barbarians have a teuton-berserker style of combat. I think there is a huge difference, especially in their magic. The amazon is empowered with greek-like magic, able to throw thunder bolts as though she were Zeus.

Since Blizzard announced that there will only be 5 classes to choose from and both male and female versions of each, they will likely not use sorceresses, amazons, or rogues. I think they will come up with a new type of spell-casting class that uses fire, ice, and lightning. They may bring back the assassin class and give it some ranged style of combat. Maybe we will get to see the sorceress and amazon as mercs in the game.

Them making it so that we get to play as both male and female versions of the characters does take away from the lore of the game. We won't get to experience being one of the Sisters of the Sightless Eye, but it won't effect the gameplay much.

Oh, and I didn't like that they took out the potion system. What's a dungeon crawl without potions?

[Dottie]

Originally Posted by Caden

Oh, and I didn't like that they took out the potion system. What's a dungeon crawl without potions?

I actually liked the new system, but I believe that potions are still there. If you look at the gameplay preview you can see both an elixir of vitality and an elixir of willpower, my guess is that that is mana and health potions.

[fedenet89]

IIRC the voice in the video trailer says that potions still there, but that they wouldn´t be the only way to regain health while fighting, those red ball that the monsters trow are the other way (excluding equipment of course)

[Siberys]

^ Not really Siberys. The amazon and sorceress were part of all female clans that didn't accept men or teach them their ways. Diablo may allow us to play the male sorcerers of D1 and the female sorceresses of D2, but they would have different spells and spell systems. The amazon and barbarian are quite different as well. The amazons have a greek-phalanx type of combat and the barbarians have a teuton-berserker style of combat. I think there is a huge difference, especially in their magic. The amazon is empowered with greek-like magic, able to throw thunder bolts as though she were Zeus.

Yes, that may be historically accurate, but I was more or less meaning the basics of the class. Amazons are melee and potentially ranged weapon wielders, Barbarians are melee and potentially ranged weapon wielders, functionally there's not much difference since they use similar skills.

Not to mention, if they include a dexterity based class, they most certainly will include Rogue. Rogues and Amazons, in terms of the video game diablo, are even more similar than Barbarians and Amazons. They will likely put a lot of assassin skills into a "Bow" user of some sort.

Sorceress and Sorcerer, a full out elemental magic user is inevitable. The original five classes of Diablo 2 included Necromancer AND Sorceress. Witch doctor is essentially druid/necromancer, so why wouldn't they include another pure elemental based spellcaster? Where in the world are you drawing these conclusions from?

@fedenet89

Check your PM box please.

[Salidin54]

Now I'm not sure now many of you watched all of the videos, but if you had (not saying you haven't) you would see/hear that they are trying to get away from the typical RPG classes. The reason they are bringing back the Barbarian is because they needed a character that relied on brute force and would be massive size-wise, and along with that according to the Blizzard representatives the Barbarian was one of the most played classes. My guess is they are going to split up the magics of the Sorceress and use them to make more classes, thought it is my hope that they make another Sorceress like class. Another thing is that they said they liked the Necromancer's mix of skills, but they felt like they weren't all being used, so they made a class that could be more offensive instead of having your character cast a couple of curses and just sit back while your minions did all the work.