Diablo 3 Facts Sheet

Since our information FAQ is a little unorganized, I decided to also add this collection of everything we know about the Diablo 3 gameplay facts sheet. Please let me know if I missed anything.

Also check out the Barbarian and Witchdoctor pages which have been updated with the known moves and skills that are confirmed.

I wanted to say that we have fixed the Commenting system on this blog, and it should be MUCH easier to post a comment, as you are allowed to do it annonymously. Please feel free to post a comment on any of the articles, as we love to hear feedback from the visitors of the blog...

Table of Contents:

1. General Overview


2. Storyline / Lore


3. Gameplay Features


4. Multiplayer


5. Quests

Section 1: General Overview

• The game largely follows in the Style of the previous Diablo games.



• The development team consists of 50-55 employees.



• The game uses a new 3D engine which also has the Havok physics engine.



• Controls are simple so that you can play with just a mouse, but at the same time gameplay depth is enhanced.



• The Camera is also simple and easy to use, with no hassles. Can be zoomed in, but not too far out.



• The game has been in development for four to five years. It was restarted after Blizzard North shut down in March of 2005.



• Scripted events can occur at random so as you go through the game multiple times you don't see the same thing.



• The length of Diablo 3 will be similar to Diablo 2, which had four acts.



• Blizzard stated that the game is "really far along", and that it is "really fun to play already."



• Diablo 3 will ship for the PC and MAC simultaneosly. There are no current plans for a console version.



• It is not yet known whether Hardcore mode will be included in the game. Hopefully that will answer some of the "Is hardcore in the game?!" topics. Though it will most likely return, seeing as how popular it was in Diablo 2.



• 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.

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Section 2: Diablo 3 Storyline and Lore

The story takes place 20 years after the events of Diablo II.

(Spoilers for previous Diablo games.)

About Diablo 3 from Blizzard:

"It has been twenty years since the events of Diablo II. Of those who faced the Lords of Hatred, Terror, and Destruction in the battle over the fate of Sanctuary, there are few still living who can bear to remember the horrors that the Prime Evils wrought upon the world. And of those who did not witness the terrible events firsthand, most believe the stories to be little more than myth. But something evil is stirring once again in Tristram, and it may already have claimed its first victim: Deckard Cain."

"In the previous two games, Diablo and his two brothers, Mephisto and Baal, were the three Prime Evils of a world called Sanctuary. Where we start off in Diablo III, it's twenty years later and the brothers are gone, they've been vanquished. Essentially everyone was kind of geared for Hell to actually invade. At the end of Lord of Destruction, the Worldstone was destroyed, it left a giant crater and everyone was expecting the hordes to come pouring out of it and nothing happened. So, Deckard Cain is one of our main characters from the first two games, he's spent the last two decades trying to find out where the last two Evils are, what they're doing and why the invasion didn't happen. A lot of the rest of the story focuses on Tyrael, the Angel of Justice, and what's happened to him since that event as he was actually the angel who destroyed the world."

Other Diablo 3 story notes:

• Old characters like Deckard Cain return.



• The player character can now interact with characters in dialogue scenes.



• There is greater emphasis placed on character-driven story.



• Character classes will have a voice, which Blizzard believes gives them more personality.

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Section 3: Gameplay Features

• The difficulty levels have been ramped up.



• There is now a heavy focus on cooperative play.



• Scripted events can occur at random so as you go through the game multiple times you don't see the same thing. Random items, random monsters, and random adventures. It allows Blizzard to place random scripted events almost anywhere, and it keeps the game fresh every time you play.



• As stated by Blizzard, because of Diablo's random nature, it is difficult to support mods / map editors.



• The game will mix random and static maps, such as in Diablo 2. What is known now is that the overworld maps outside, will be static, but dungeons, caves, etc. will be randomized.



• NPC helpers and bodyguards are back.



• Mounts will not be included.



• Booby traps return.



• New health globes will not replace potions, but instead be more useful. As you fight enemies they will drop instant health globes which will heal you. Potions are still in the game though, but blizzard wants to emphasize skill over potions. When one player picks up a health globe, all players benefit from its restorative effects. This is in cooperative play.



• The trading system will be improved over Diablo 2. Though an "auction house" system has not been confirmed.



• Destructible environments, that can either work for or against the player character.



• The town portal system will be kept, but upgraded even more to speed up the gameplay.

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Section 4: Diablo 3 Multiplayer

• Blizzard is looking into making the game more fair for everyone. In the past too many people tried and succeeded in ruining the game for others, with leeching, duping, and all the other problems of Diablo 2. They are working very hard on trying to keep the multiplayer from becoming as abused as Diablo 2s.



• The same drop in/drop out cooperative play over Battle.net.



• Diablo 3 can support about 8 players in multiplayer, as stated by the devs, but it plays better with around five. They have not decided on the maximum players yet.



• Battle.net will receive the some upgrades which will also be seen in Starcraft II.



• There will be a single realm/region for North America.



• Blizzard stated a WoW like Armory is being made for Diablo 3. If you are not familiar with that, it is a website that allows you to view your Diablo 3 character and share it outside of the game.

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Section 5: Diablo 3 Quests Information

• 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.



• There will be class-based quests in addition to main storyline quests.



• A new conversation system will see fully-voiced characters interacting with each other.

If this list is missing anything, please let me know. Enjoy and hopefully we will have more Diablo 3 information announced soon!

Diablo 3 Graphics Explained by Lead Producer Keith Lee

We all know by now that some people went as far as to make a petition for Blizzard to change the graphics, even only after 3 days of seeing the very first screenshots of Diablo 3. Why did Blizard choose a different art style for Diablo 3 than the previous games in the series? When asked, lead Diablo 3 producer Keith Lee, stated that in Diablo 2, and 1, they featured darker landscapes and dungeons which fit great with the whole theme of the games. Since the very first screenshots were released, people have blamed them to look a lot like World of Warcraft, and complained that they were too bright and colorful for a Diablo game.

Keith Lee stated the following about this: “One of the things that we considered when we were working on the visuals for ‘Diablo III’ is the fact that color is your friend. We feel that color actually helps to create a lot of highlights in the game so that there is contrast. A great analogy is like in ‘Lord of the Rings’ — not everything is dark. It allows you to see what a creepy dungeon can be like but if everything is dark it doesn’t allow you to have a lot of contrast. Diablo I and Diablo II are darker, and I think that the one of the main reasons why is the fact that in ‘Diablo I,’ you’re basically in a dungeon the whole time. And in contrast to ‘Diablo III,’ you’ll be exploring outdoors, you’ll be in dungeons, you’ll be experiencing so many different areas."


"We want to bring as much variety as we can when you’re playing the game so that you’re excited to check out new environments. We don’t want everything to look the same and that’s really what we’re trying to aim for. What we also tried to do is create very clean textures so that you can really focus on them. It’s a stylized feel and in that sense, it’s very sort of a Blizzard philosophy. It’s just really pushing the envelope in terms of the visuals so that everyone is excited about how everything looks. We think that ‘Diablo III’ is going to be better in so many different ways. We’re just building and improving upon the the first and second ‘Diablo’ games.”

Kieth also stated, "We’re very involved, because everyone’s very passionate about our games. Blizzard employees spend a lot of time actually iterating on [the game], and so in terms of the next phase, what we’ll try to do is a proof on concept on lot of different gameplay aspects. And we really want to get as much feedback as possible so that we can improve on the game and ensure that we meet Blizzard quality for our fans and for ourselves as players.”

So I want to apologize in advance for my "graphics" post. I was just outraged that people did not appreciate just the fact Diablo 3 was announced, and instead complained. It seems as Blizzard will be listening and making the graphics as the people want them to be. Which is good to hear, but at the same time, I would still love to see them done by a professional, and not only by what some people want them to do.

But really, this is great news, as it means that Diablo 3 will feature both great colors for some areas, that will include waterfalls, and other vibrant textures, but in other parts of the game, such as dungeons, caves, etc. the game will bring back the dark and shadowy Diablo 2 feel that the series is so used to.

Diablo 3 Paladin, maybe?

On the official Blizzard site, in cains journal, there are many concept art pictures. One of them was this one, that is seen on the left of this post (click the picture to see the full image). Now, is it me, or does this look like a Paladin?

On page 13 of Cain's Journal which can be found here: Deckard Cains Journal, there is a knight which is dual wielding two swords. This makes me think that there is a Paladin in Diablo 3 and that he or she will be able to dual wield weapons, unlike in Diablo 2.

As we can see from the concept image, it does not look that similar to the Barbarian:



Which leads me to think that this has to be a Paladin in Diablo 2 that can dual wield.

Diablo 3: Player Killing. PKing is probably out. Official news from Blizzard.

This was posted on the World of Warcraft forums, by Bashiok, an official at Blizzard:

We're - in general - not big fans of griefing for any game. It's really only "fun" for one person, and that definition of fun isn't generally something we're going to want to encourage. It's far more positive to encourage and support meaningful and skillful options and systems within a game, than a mechanic for people to instantly turn against one another for no meaningful gameplay reasons.

I definitely remember running with my friends, and someone toggles it, and bam everyone is dead and your one friend is laughing. Ok, ok, good joke I guess, and then you run back and *bam*, you've toggled it to get them back. After a while everyone usually agrees to a truce because it's just a waste of time. But I also remember running with random players and losing extremely nice items because of it, not cool. I'm sure that it was a feature that was right up some people's alleys, I won't deny there are some that would enjoy nothing more than to see others frustrated, but is that truly something that should be encouraged through design - if not directly opposed?

We have a large focus on cooperative play for Diablo III, and the mechanics and design decisions related to multiplayer are likely going to be based on supporting and encouraging it as much as possible, and not breaking it down.

That doesn't mean that PvP won't have its own focus, but those are details and features we aren't yet discussing.

In my opinion, this is a great move by blizzard. This will allow for more fair PVP and less killing sprees by those people just trying to ruin the game for others. The PVP system of Diablo 2 was good, but after this many years, and World of Warcraft, I think it was time for it to get an upgrade. And here we can see that that is exactly what hey are doing. Games should always mainly be about fun, and this new change is all about keeping that fun, and keeping the annoying people who toggled PVP just to kill you for no reason.

Frustration has no place in video games. Game designers work night and day to make sure it stays out of their games, mainly in todays competitive games. With this new PVP system, hopefully that will change. Blizzard should release some more information about this in the coming weeks, and we will update you on it as soon as it is available.

Diablo 3: What We Know About The User Interface

Welcome to the Diablo 3 User Interface information page. Here you will find all the latest information about the Diablo 3 UI, and many little details that we now know. This FAQ will be updated over time, so your feedback is much appreciated.

Table of Contents:

1. Mana and Frenzy Bars


2. Buffs


3. Monster Targeting/Combat Log


4. Comparing Equipment


5. The Inventory


6. Item Drops


7. Mini-Map

Mana Bar

Let's start with the mana and frenzy bars. In Diablo 3, instead of everyone having a mana bar, the fighter classes, or at least the barbarian will use a different bar than the mage classes. As you can see here, the mage classes, such as the Witch Doctor, use this mana bar.

Frenzy Bar
On the other hand, melee classes, will use this new bar, called a Frenzy Bar. I imagine that the Frenzy Bar probably regenerates faster than the Mana bar, and has much different mechanics. Such as the energy bars and mana bars in World of Warcraft.



Buffs Buffs in Diablo 3 will appear on the bottom left side of the screen as you can see in this image (Barbarian's Battle Cry Buff Can Be Seen):





Monster Targeting and Mini Combat Log
In Diablo 3, when you attack an enemy, the damage you do will appear above the enemies head. This is a great change from the past, where you could not see the damage you were doing to an enemy during the fight (only if you checked your character page. which was of course distracting while in a fight), or any other important information that helps you during a fight. Here are some examples:







Equipment Comparing

In Diablo 3, when selecting a weapon, to make it easier to choose a new weapon for yourself, you will be able to see the weapon you currently have equipped, next to the weapon you are looking at. Whether this is the same with all equipment, it is not confirmed, but I am sure that this is the logical case.



On Weapon Speed: In D3, weapon speed will be shown as "Attack per Second". Also there will be a calculated result for "Damage per Second" based on the damage and speed. With lightning damage having it's damage points ranging from 1 - x.


The Inventory

In the gameplay videos, and the inventory pictures, we can see room for 30 items. The new inventory system will be a bit similar to World of Warcraft where you will be able to carry variable sizes of bags. (There will be 4 grayed out slots for bags.)
Items will take one inventory slot regardless of their size, and some of the items will be stackable. This will allow you to carry a lot more of the same item. Adding bags also allows you to carry many more items than ever before.



(Note: Some gear icons do not look like they would on the actual player character.)

Gear Slots:

- Head
- Shoulders
- Neck
- Hands
- Chest
- Leggings

- Waist
- Feet
- Finger R
- Finger L
- Weapon 1
- Weapon 2



Item Drops
- Runes will be included, but will have a different system than Diablo 2.
- Gems, and Scrolls of Identify are back.
- The item rarity system of Diablo 2 is making a comeback as well.
- Throwing knives are back.
- Elixrs are also in the game.
- Bags are included. Allowing you to store more items in each one, and carry up to 4 bags.
- Orbs that drop after enemies are defeated than replenish your health will be acompanied by potions.
- Gold will now be picked up automatically.







Mini-Map

The mini-map will be on the top right side of the screen, along with the name of the area that you are currently in right above it.






Legend:

Yellow Dot - Hero
Purple Dot - Heros Mercenary, pet, and allies.
Orange Dot - NPCs (Like Deckard Cain, etc.)

NPC Portraits located top left of the UI:

Diablo 3 Graphics Complainers!

This just makes me sick. It has been only 3 days or so, since we saw the first footage and screenshots of Diablo 3, and already we have many kids who are complaining!

Are you that ungrateful? And tell me, are you serious? Do you know how hard Blizzard is working on this game and how much work they have already put in? It disgusts me that instead of enjoying and discussing the game, many diablo fans are dissing it, and saying they don't like the graphics and want them to change.

Well you know what? That is a perfect example that society nowadays has become way too spoiled. Nothing is ever enough for people. All of this GREAT Diablo 3 information gets released, and many people, all they can do is whine about it! It's a joke really.

The graphics of Diablo 3 are fine. To those telling blizzard to change them, please, kindly shut your mouth. If any of you knew how much time and work it takes to make and design a game like this, from scratch, nobody would be saying anything but praising Diablo 3.

Now I know many of you here do not feel this way, and I apologize for this post in advance, but I have to get this out there!

Even G4 linked to a stupid petition telling Blizzard to change the graphics! Is this a joke? Seriously? 3 Days...and theres a PETITION to change the graphics? People are way too ungrateful! And it makes me sick honestly.

I just hope Blizzard doesn't see the petition at all, and that they keep on course with what they have planned for the game. They don't need all of these stupid kids trying to tell them how to make THEIR game. Blizzard delivered Diablo 2, they delivered Diablo 1. They delivered World of Warcraft, Starcraft. All were done perfectly. Now what makes you think they won't do the same for Diablo 3? Please, let them work on it, let them release more footage, and I can promise you that over time you see see the polished game they have been working on for the past 4+ years.

Stop complaining! Just stop. Please. And enjoy the very first footage and information!

Thanks for reading.

Diablo 3 Druid or Amazon?

This shot was taken from one of the developer videos. It looks like a druid with a spear! It could also be an old witch doctor concept. Thought they probably would not show a concept in their announcement video of the gameplay. Not sure.

Some other ideas are that this could be a druid/summoner combo, which would be very interesting. Also, it could be a Hunter class. Or even a druid/amazon combo.

But all signs honestly point to druid. Main reason is because if you look at it's helmet, it is a wolf type helmet, and as we know, this is the same type of helmet that druids used in Diablo 2. Any ideas on which class this might be?

Great Things About Diablo 3

There are many many reasons why Diablo 3 is great, here some of them.


Graphics.
Let's start with the graphics. They have been upgraded to fully 3D from the older sprites. We now have a fast 3D rendering engine, that gives us great graphics, at great frames per second. With the new graphics engine, come great new visual effects. From the moves, to the enemies, everything looks much better, and more visually satisfying. Especially when you are hacking away at many many enemies, it is very gory, as we have seen from the gameplay footage.



Interactive Environments.

Diablo 3 features interactive environments that can either help or do harm to your character. In some parts of the game for example, you can use the environment to your advantage by smashing a part of the environment, and having the parts of it fall on all of the enemies standing directly next to it. Killing them instantly. Though in some parts, the environment can work against you. In one example we were shown, as many of you have seen, there will be chests that will instead of giving you loot, activate a device which makes enemies come out of nowhere, and attack you.


Amazing Skill Effects.
I know this should go into graphics, but it deserves it's own part. The visual effects on the skills are great. From what we have seen, it will be very satisfying using all of the skills, and we have only seen a few. There are still many more, as well as other classes to see. Each with their own unique look, this was a great move by Blizzard. Giving all of the skills great, unique effects. Sort of like in Diablo 2, but improved, a lot. Even the enemies use skills with amazing visuals.



The Improved User Interface
Diablo 2 had a great user interface, but Diablo 2 is also many years old. Blizzard took the original interface and upgraded the heck out of it. And I think they did a great job. It is just as before, when it comes to the health and mana bars, but a few things were changed to make it easier for you to play. As stated by the developers, the potions belt was replaced by a skill bar, allowing you to use your skills quickly and easily.


Customized Gear for Each Class
Each piece of gear is custom designed for each class. Barbarians put on demonic style garb, with devil horns. The other classes will have awesome gear that will make them stand out, and look unique.



Unique Looking Enemies..everywhere!

As you can see from our monsters page, the monsters in Diablo 3 are very unique looking. They range from ghost type creatures, to weird blobs, and even more bizarre creations, you won't ever get bored of slaying countless of these monsters.


Huge Bosses!

If you thought the bosses in Diablo 2 were big, you will love the bosses in Diablo 3. They are stated to be six or seven times larger than the player character. This makes all of the boss battles that much more epic, and challenging. As well as satisfying, when you finally beat them and visually.


Scripted and Random Events

As stated earlier, scripted events can occur at random so as you go through the game multiple times you don't see the same thing. This along with all the other random systems such as items, dungeons, maps, etc. make for a incredibly repayable game. If you thought Diablo 2 had replay value, you will love Diablo 3. They took the random system from Diablo 2 and improved a lot on it. Random items, random monsters, and random adventures. This allows Blizzard to place random scripted events almost anywhere, and it keeps the game fresh every time you play.


The Witch Doctor!
The Witch Doctor is a new class type in Diablo 3, it can cast out locus swarm, which spreads between targets and deals damage. It can also summon mongrel things that it can cast locust swarm on. Locust swarm buffs their damage. The Witch Doctor can also use a fire bomb spell. Can summon a wall of zombies that stays stationary, but the zombies in the wall flail their arms and do damage to their opponents. This has to be one of the coolest ideas for a skill, ever.


There are many other great things about Diablo 3, but I hope I covered at least some of the great ones. If you have some other things you would like to add, please post a comment. Thanks for reading!

Diablo 3 and Diablo 2 Early Graphics Comparison

Here are some pictures comparing Diablo 2 to early Diablo 3. Click each one to see the full size.

New Drop System in Diablo 3

As stated by the Blizzard developers, the new drop system in Diablo 3 will make monsters drop several items specific to each person in the game. That means no more ninja looting of items at the moment that you see them. This is a huge change from the Diablo 2's quick "loot or lose out" system we are all so used to.

Will this make the game any less fun? Probably not. In Diablo 2, it was kind of annoying when you got to a some good drops with your party, and some guy ends up getting them all because he was right next to where they dropped, and clicked the screen quickly. So now this new system will be able to balance the items out for everyone. There will finally be no more leeching for items in Diablo multiplayer.

Part 1 of the Diablo 3 Developer Footage


It is sort of like in the MMORPGs, where you also get to split the items between the people, so hopefully everyone gets something good. Of course nobody wants Diablo 3 to be an MMORPG, I'm sure. That is what World of Warcraft is for. Diablo should stick to it's roots, and continue what it did before, but of course with a lot of upgrades. And this is what we seem to have on our hands here, which is great.

This new drop system will help avoid some of the problems in the past and make for a more enjoyable game. Also hopefully they will add a system where the part leader can choose what type of looting is allowed, so it can either the master looter can take the item, or whoever rolls the highest number for it. This type of system is much better than before, because it allows each party to customize how they want the drops to work. Of course this is a MMORPG feature, but I think everyone will agree that it is a step forward from the older Diablo 2 drop system.

Of course I am sure many will not be pleased with this new system, and will want the old system back, where anyone can pick up anything that drops at any time. But you have to realize that games always improve all of their features, in a series, so in the long run, this will be better for most people, and I am glad Blizzard is implementing it.