Diablo III is an upcoming dark fantasy/horror-themed action role-playing game in development by Blizzard, making it the third installment in the Diablo franchise. The game, which features elements of the hack and slash and dungeon crawl genres, was first announced on June 28, 2008, at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France, and is slated for release in the second quarter of 2012.
Plot
The game takes place in Sanctuary, the dark fantasy world of the Diablo series. This world was saved twenty years prior by a handful of unnamed heroes in Diablo II, heroes who, having survived the onslaught brought by the armies of the Burning Hells, have gone mad from their ordeals. It is up to a new generation of heroes to face the forces of evil threatening the world of Sanctuary.
Players will have the opportunity to explore familiar settings such as Tristram.
The only confirmed NPCs are Deckard Cain, who has appeared in both of the previous games, and his niece, Leah, a new character who accompanies the hero in quests from time to time. The plot will revolve around two surviving Lesser Evils, Azmodan and Belial, and an artifact known as the Black Soulstone. Diablo's world map is composed primarily of two main continents with several small islands in the Northwest region. The world of Sanctuary has been dramatically changed by the events of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, for the destruction of the World Stone underneath Mount Arreat has reshaped the world's geography.
Gameplay
The proprietary engine will incorporate Blizzard's custom in-house physics, a change from the original usage of Havok's physics engine, and feature destructible environments with an in-game damage effect. The developers are aiming to make the game run on a wide range of systems, and have stated that DirectX 10 will not be required. Diablo III will use a custom 3D game engine in order to present an overhead view to the player, in a somewhat similar way to the isometric view used in previous games in the series. Enemies will utilize the 3D environment as well, in ways such as crawling up the side of a wall from the depths into the combat area.
As in Diablo II, multiplayer games will be possible using Blizzard's Battle.net service, with many of the new features developed for StarCraft II also available in Diablo III. Players will be able to drop in and out of sessions of co-operative play with others.
An enhanced quest system, a random level generator, and a random encounter generator are slated for use in order to ensure the game provides different experiences when replayed. Overall, the game will include both static and randomly generated levels. Additionally, there will be class-specific quests to go along with the main storyline quests. Blizzard originally planned to have in-game cutscenes,[ but decided these would divert from the gameplay and decided against them. Three new armor pieces will be available: shoulder plates, arm-guards and leggings.
Unlike previous iterations, gold can be picked up merely by touching it, rather than having to manually pick it up. One of the new features intended to speed gameplay is that health orbs drop from enemies, replacing the need to have a potion bar, which itself is replaced by a skill bar that allows a player to assign quick bar buttons to skills and spells; previously, players could only assign two skills (one for each mouse button) and had to swap skills with the keyboard or mousewheel. Players can still assign specific attacks to mouse buttons.
Skill runes, another new feature, are skill-modifying items that are randomly dropped by monsters and used across all classes. Rather than changing equippable items as in Diablo II, they are instead attached to skills, often completely changing the gameplay of each skill. Skill runes also have the ability to make one particular spell in each class more powerful, and give the player options as to how the rune will enhance a particular spell. For example, investing skill runes on the wizard's "lightning" can allow the players to make the lightning jump onto additional enemies, or, alternatively, adding the runes with explosion effect blows the enemy up and causes damage to the surrounding area.
Hardcore Mode
Diablo III will give players the choice to make hardcore characters, similar to Diablo II. Hardcore characters cannot be resurrected and become permanently unplayable if they are killed, and they do not have access to the real-world money auction house. Hardcore mode is only available after a completion of the game.
Artisans
Artisans are NPCs who sell, craft, and enhance equipment. Two types of artisans can be acquired by completing a quest for each: a blacksmith and a jeweler. The previously announced Mystic Artisan has been pulled, possibly to be released later on. Artisans create items using materials the player can gather by scrapping acquired items and reducing them to their component parts. Unlike Diablo II, rare and magic items can be enhanced, not just basic weaponry and armor. These materials are used to create items which will have random bonuses. Crafting can also be used to train and improve the skills of the artisans rather than create new items. When artisans gain new levels, their shop reflects their higher skill level. The process of salvaging items into materials also makes inventory management easier. Blizzard stated that this crafting system was designed so that it would not slow down the pace of the game.
Followers
Followers are NPC allies that can accompany the player throughout the game world. There are three types of followers in Diablo 3: the Templar, the Scoundrel and the Enchantress, each having their own skills and background. As followers fight alongside the player, they gain new skills, experience and equipment as they level up. Only one follower accompanies the player at a time, creating a gameplay strategy decision. Originally, followers were only to be viable in normal, single-player mode. However, Jay Wilson stated at BlizzCon 2011 that followers would now be viable in later difficulty levels.
Auction House
On 1 August 2011, it was reported that Diablo III will feature two types of auction houses; one where players spend in-game gold and another where players can buy or sell virtual items for real-world money. The real money auction house will not be available in Hardcore mode.
Blizzard has stated that nearly everything that drops on the ground, including gold, can be traded with other players directly or through the auction house system. Aside from certain quest items, there will be very few (if any) items that will be bound to a particular character and therefore un-tradable.
In order to get rated in Korea, Blizzard has agreed to drop the auction house from the Korean release of the game as some Korean government members thought the auction house violated Korean anti-gambling laws.
PvP Combat
Player versus player has been implemented in Diablo III using unique arenas designed with differing amounts of terrain and cover. Players participate in PvP choosing from their existing characters, with access to all of the gear and skill they have gathered from playing the game in single player or cooperative mode. There will be both ranked and unranked gametypes. When participating in ranked games ('best of' match series), players will earn points for advancement based on the number of kills, accomplished objectives, and victories they acquire throughout matches. The points earned lead to multiplayer achievements, titles, and other rewards.
Character Classes
There will be five available character classes. In the previous two games, each class had a fixed gender, but in Diablo III players may choose the gender they would like to play. Although Blizzard initially revealed only one gender per class, the alternate gender has been revealed slowly in the lead-up to the game's release.
The witch doctor is a new character reminiscent of the Diablo II necromancer, but with skills more traditionally associated with shamanism and voodoo culture. The witch doctor has the ability to summon monsters, cast curses, harvest souls, and hurl poisons and explosives at his enemies. Blizzard has stated[citation needed] that the witch doctor is not another version of the necromancer and that they may incorporate the necromancer in a future expansion if they so desire. To power spells the witch doctor uses mana, which regenerates slowly.
The barbarian will have a variety of revamped skills at their disposal based on the use of incredible physical prowess. The barbarian is able to whirlwind through crowds, cleave through swarms, leap across crags, and crush opponents upon landing. The resource used by the barbarian is fury, which is generated through getting attacked by enemies, attacking enemies and through certain abilities. Fury is used for certain strong abilities and degenerates over time.
The wizard is a version of the sorceress from Diablo II or the sorceror from Diablo. The Wizard's abilities range from shooting lightning, fire and ice at their enemies to slowing time and teleporting around enemies and through walls. The wizard fuels their spells with arcane power, which is a fast regenerating power source.
The monk is a melee attacker, using martial arts to cripple foes, resist damage, deflect projectiles, attack with blinding speed, and land explosive killing blows. It combines the melee elements of Diablo II's assassin class with the "holy warrior" role of the paladin. Blizzard has stated that the monk is not related in any way to the monk class from the Sierra Entertainment-made Diablo: Hellfire expansion. The monk is fueled by spirit, which has defensive purposes and is slowly generated through attacking, though it does not degenerate.
The demon hunter combines elements of Diablo II's amazon and assassin classes. Demon hunters use crossbows as their main weapon and also throw small bombs at enemies. Some of their skills have been revealed and among them are arrow skills such as Chain Arrow. The demon hunter is fueled by discipline and hatred. Hatred is a fast regenerating resource that is used for attacks, while Discipline is a slow regenerating resource used for defensive abilities.
The archivist class was presented on April 1, 2009, following in Blizzard's April Fool's Day joke tradition.
Development
Development on Diablo III began in 2001 when Blizzard North was still in operation. The original artistic design differed from that shown at Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2008 demonstration, and had undergone three revisions before reaching the standards felt necessary by the team behind Diablo III.[citation needed] The game is being planned for a simultaneous release on both Windows and Mac OS X platforms. It was also revealed that the game would require a constant internet connection to play, even for single-player mode.
Diablo III's lead designer is Jay Wilson, a former Relic Entertainment designer credited with work on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes as well as Blood II: The Chosen for Monolith Productions. Its lead world designer is Leonard Boyarsky, one of the six co-creators of Fallout.
Bobby Kotick from Activision anounced on 2/09/2012 that Diablo III will not launch in the 1st quarter of 2012. A slide show presentation at Activisions quarterly financial report listed Diablo III launch sometime in Q2 of 2012.
Beta
On May 9, 2011 Mike Morhaime announced that Diablo III was then expected to be released for external beta testing in Q3 of 2011. On September 7, 2011 Blizzard community manager Bashiok confirmed the start of the closed public beta test of the game with limited external testing by employees and their families. Testers were not restricted by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) i.e. every participant would be free to show, share, or talk about any portion of the beta content. On September 20th, 2011 Blizzard announced through their Diablo III site that the closed beta test portion of the game through invites, promotions and giveaways had begun. On October 22, 2011 at BlizzCon, Diablo 3 game director Jay Wilson announced during an open Q&A that a new wave of beta invitations would be sent after an upcoming patch.
The content available in the beta includes the possibility to try all 5 character classes in the first act up to the Skeletal King encounter. The players are also able to try various in-game features such as crafting through the blacksmithing NPC, the auction house, hosting and joining public games as well as earning achievements.
The beta website makes reference that there will be measures in place to prevent future cheating.
Music
Russell Brower composed the music for Diablo III. When composing for the orchestra, he tried to respect the Wagnerian style from the expansion to the second game in the series, Lord of Destruction.[53] The Overture is considered the main theme of the game and it has been performed by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra. A similar composition was used in the cinematic teaser trailer of the game. The Tristram theme from the first Diablo videogame, also used in thesecond game, is present in Diablo III with few changes.
