Diablo III Forum Tidbits

[GameBanshee News]

Diablo community manager "Bashiok" continues to make the rounds on the official Diablo III forums. His responses...

On the PvP system being changed:

When/Why would you choose to enable PvP in your game if it was an option? Would it be before you were max or near-max level, or twinked?

If not then you're essentially looking for a dueling game, and wouldn't a dedicated PvP focus provide a more logical option than a blanket PvP-on/PvP-off option which no one would enable until they were powerful enough to defend themselves?

On Health Orb functionality:

The question is, "You can't grab a health orb when you're alone and at full health, but if you're in a party; can you grab a health orb while at full health if one of your party members isn't at full health?"

My opinion/suggestion is that you should be able to grab a health orb if you're at full health, and a party member isn't at full health - this way you can help/save them, even if you personally don't need it.

That's how it works!

We're also playing around with some alternate functionality for when/how they're picked up while you're at full health, as well as some visual tweaks. Regardless we're going to make sure it's as fun and balanced as possible.

On the new BlizzCast screenshots:

I'm glad you liked them, and thanks for the compliments on the interview.

Those shots are just of different areas than what was shown at WWI, and aren't hinting at some larger shift in lighting. They were taken with the specific intent to show off the range of theme and architecture that is occurring even within a single dungeon. Plus we tried to work in a bit more blood.

On minion control skills:

Well you can make your mongrels explode, that's a pretty cool way to un-summon them...

Minion management is a possibility, but that also definitely complicates the UI and use of the minions. It also seems to indicate that they must be handled with care, and not as fodder in a constant bloodbath like it should be. They're easy enough to dispatch and re-summon that you already have some interesting tactics with them.

Lets say you have four mongrels out, fighting a group of monsters, and a stronger enemy flanks you. You can summon a new mongrel (or make an old one explode first) which would then take on tanking duty for the stronger enemy that was closing in.

Although finer-control is a possibility, really what it comes down to is not having stupid pets and maybe more interesting ways to game their use than sit and stay commands.