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→Active and Passive Skills
==Active and Passive Skills==
Diablo III skills are either "[[activeskills|active]]" or "[[passive skills|passive]]." There A huge change was made to the skill trees during development in 2010, when all the passive skills were removed from the Diablo III [[skill trees]]. Passive skills remain in the game, but they are accessed in some undisclosed way, not through placing skill points into them. More information is promised at Blizzcon 2010. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-3-has-no-passive-skills/] [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-iiis-maximum-level-announced-60/] Earlier in the game, the skill trees were much as they'd been in Diablo II, with a mixture of passive and active skills. The first good look at skill trees came in October 2008, when there were as many or more passive skills than active skills. At Blizzcon in October 2008 (Only the Barbarian and Wizard had a very preliminary build large amount of the gameskills at that point.)Each character had three skill trees at that point, with several columns of skills in each skill tree was set up , arranged in tiers, with 4 or 5 skills per tier. On each tier, one or two were active and the rest were passive. By 2009, the skill trees were much like those in Diablo 2; around 30 skills, about 1/3 passive and 2/3 active. This changed in 2010, when skill trees were entirely remade, and all of the passive skills were removed.
Active skills are used by clicking their icon, and are generally direct attacks; things like [[Spirit_Skill_Tree#Soul_Harvest|Soul Harvest]], [[Battlemaster_Skill_Tree#Hammer_of_the_Ancients|Hammer of the Ancients]], or [[Arcane_Skill_Tree#Magic_Missile|Magic Missile]]. Active skills attack, cast a protective armor, stun monsters, etc.
Passive skills grant the character some sort of bonus that is always in effect. Passive skills do not need to be cast to activate them; they give a bonus all the time, as soon as points are placed into them. These are skills and spells like [[Arcane_Skill_Tree#Efficient_Magics|Efficient Magics]] or [[Battlemaster_Skill_Tree#Power_of_the_Battlemaster|Power of the Battlemaster]]. (No passive Witch Doctor skills have yet been named.) Passive skills boost the damage of other spells, lower the mana cost of casting them, increase their duration, etc. Passive skills were often called "masteries" in Diablo II, and that term is still applicable to many of them in Diablo III.
===Balancing Passives and Actives===
The balance of active and passive skills is an issue that must be tackled in character balancing. Jay Wilson spoke on this issue in an October 2009 interview. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/]
