Diablo Wiki - User contributions [en]

User talk:NXCL

2011-03-01T07:53:17Z

NXCL: Created page with "If there's any pages that need proof reading, I'll be able to help with that. ^____^"

If there's any pages that need proof reading, I'll be able to help with that.

^____^

Diablo III release date

2011-02-23T03:52:56Z

NXCL: /* Diablo III Expansion Packs= */

There is no Diablo III release date, and Blizzard has never given one. Not even a tentative one. Not even an estimate at one. When asked about a release date, Blizzard employees give the same reply for all their games.

"When it's done."

Diablo 3 release dates are often given/guessed at by media sources and especially by software merchants. These dates have no authority and exist solely to spur interest/pre-sales.
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/categories/category/release-date/ News items related to Diablo 3's] release date.
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/586 Screenshot gallery of] (incorrect) estimated release dates.

==Beta Test Timeline==

After years of offering estimates that were often missed, Blizzard has grown even more conservative about offering release dates, and they no longer give any hint until they are positive that they can hit them. Hence Starcraft 2 and WoW:Cat did not get release dates until 2-3 months beforehand, when those titles were well into their beta tests. This makes the start of the beta a more useful measure of the release date than any actual release date announcement, and on that front [[Jay Wilson]] has estimated that Diablo III will be released about six months after the beta test begins.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzcon-video-interview-jay-wilson-direct-tv/]

==Blizzard's Leaked Product Schedule==

[[File:Bliz-schedule-rumor1.jpg|thumb|450px|Diablo III projection: Fourth Quarter 2011?]]
The image to the right "leaked" via a Chinese MMORPG site in late 2010.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-release-dates-leaked/] It's alleged to be an internal Blizzard document from April 2010, listing estimated dates for their upcoming product releases. Diablo III is listed for the fourth quarter 2011, a fact that gave lots of Diablo fans a huge burst of excitement. Despite the fact that Blizzard has time and time again proved that they never hit their own estimated release dates.

Even if the chart is authentic, the estimate of Fourth Quarter 2011 for Diablo III doesn't necessarily mean anything. Blizzard has along history of missing their projected release dates, which is why they no longer state them publicly. Even if the chart is real, and they were projecting December 2011 as of April 2010, that's no guarantee that Diablo III will be released at that time. In fact, given Blizzard's past flirtations with advance release dates, that's a pretty good guarantee Diablo III will not be ready by then.

The chart's estimates for Starcraft II and WoW:Cat proved accurate. However that's not saying too much, since both titles were in or nearly into beta testing in April 2010 (assuming the chart is legit), and SC2 was already out and WoW:Cat was imminent in September 2010 (assuming the chart was a fabrication at that time).

===Is It Legit?===

That's the big question. One that will probably never be answered publicly. Blizzard did not comment on it directly, and rumors about firings in their Chinese offices were just that; rumors.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/more-blizzard-china-info-leak-intrigue/]

The dates may or may not prove accurate, but that won't prove anything. Any knowledgeable fan could have estimated release dates in the ballpark of these for WoW expansions, Stacraft 2 expansions, and Diablo III expansions. Eighteen months apart is Blizzard's stated goal (one they've not yet managed to meet.)

So what would prove the legitimacy of this chart?
# If Blizzard admitted that it was legit, which they have not and will not do.
# If Starcraft: Phoenix is announced, whatever it is, and is released around the estimated time.
# If Titan is announced and released around the estimated time.

The chart got one excellent piece of supporting evidence in November 2010, when Blizzard confirmed that Titan was the codename for their unannounced but well-known secret next-gen MMORPG. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-confirms-titan-as-code-name-for-their-next-gen-mmo/] The project had long since been known about, but the code name "Titan" was brand new news when the chart was released.

Another piece of evidence appeared in February 2011, when Japanese and Brazilian localizations were added to Blizzard's upcoming WoW patch.[http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/2186-WoW-Brazil-Blizzard-Slate-Blue-Posts-MMO-Report-Comics] "WoW Brazil" is listed on the chart for mid-2011, so they seem to be right on schedule for that.

==Fan Discontent==

One constant with every Blizzard game is a long development cycle, a lot of eager fans, and a substantial minority of fans who are very impatient. The most hardcore fans tend not to be so impatient, since they're following the game's development very closely, and can see the progress as it moves along. The most impatient ones tend to be more casual fans, who want the game, but who only hear news about it every now and then, via general gaming news sites. They tend to also see fake release dates, usually via online retailers, which they believe, not knowing any better. And then when the game isn't ready by those dates, they blame not themselves for being gullible, or the retailer for lying, but the game developers for being slow.

Examples of this kind of fan can be seen in comments about any game on general gaming site, or in the replies to a game's social media outlets, where not very knowledgeable fans tend to show up.

A good example of this came in a post on leading fansite Diii.net, when they quoted a bunch of fan comments on Blizzard's Diablo Facebook page. A few samples from that news item:[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/no-release-date-for-some-time/]

<blockquote>
* WE WANT A RELEASE DATE!
* How much longer do we have to wait? Sacred 3 will be out before D3 at this rate….
* I WANT TO KNOW WHEN IS IT GONNA COME OUT !!!! FREAKING OUT OVER HERE !!!
* how about..just release it…
* Okay I have waited long enough! I want my diablo 3 now please
* Give me the release date and NOBODY gets hurt…seriously…
* Just release it!!! :D
* release it please !
* you guys already changed the release date a billion times now… just get it over with and stop lying about it and actually make a release date that STICKS
* How about you just progress with the game… stop wasting time tweeting.
* GET DIABLO 3 GOING ALREADY!!!!!!!!!
</blockquote>

Blizzard's company PR policy never to link out to fansites or wikis does a lot to feed this sort of behavior, since their official game sites, especially pre-release, have decent game info, but virtually zero game news. If you look around the [http://www.diablo3.com official Diablo III site] you'll find lots of pretty pictures and very polished looking game features, but no links to regular news sources, no links to developer interviews, nothing about development progress, or timelines, or a release date, or a beta test, etc. Naturally the fans who rely only on Blizzard's own sites, and general gaming sites, are going to expect the game to be done soon, since all they see looks nearly release-ready, and they're not told otherwise by anyone in authority.

==D3: In the Next Few Years==
[[File:Release-date-bliz1.jpg|thumb|250px|D3 in "Next Few Years" [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-3-will-not-be-released-in-2010/ as of late 2009].]]
No one at Blizzard has ever yet given any hint of a release date, or schedule, or estimate, or anything of the kind for Diablo 3, other than to say it would not be out in 2010[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/rob-pardon-on-d3s-release-date/], and that as of late 2009 it was in their pipeline for the "next few years."[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-3-will-not-be-released-in-2010/]

Their only other public comments on the "when" question are terse official statements[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-responds-to-diablo-3-release-date-rumour/] that Diablo 3 does not have a release date, whenever a new rumor pops up and gains enough traction that they feel it's necessary to restate the obvious.

As of July 2010, fansite Diii.net had tagged more than twenty-five news items with [http://diablo.incgamers.com/categories/category/release-date/ the "release date rumor" keyword], showing just how often this sort of thing pops up.

==Estimated Progress?==
Estimates of a percentage completed are discouraged by Blizzard development teams, since there's no way to quantify the process in that fashion. They spent years working on the foundation of Diablo III: programming the game engine, trying out numerous different styles of art design, coming up with a plot and character concepts, etc. The hardware and foundational work takes as long or longer than adding in the content, which makes it impossible to estimate the overall percentage completed.

Bashiok emphasized this iterative, non-linear design style in a forum post in November 2009. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/bashiok-on-act-3-and/]

<blue>We have weekly playtests to focus feedback on areas and features. Last week was an Act III dungeon. 

...The game isn’t being developed in a linear fashion so us saying we’re working on things in Act III doesn’t really mean anything in regards to how much of the game is finished.

Since we’re constantly evolving the tools and processes for creating the various assets for the game (and just plain getting better at it), it’s best to have as wide a perspective as possible. Otherwise we’d probably paint ourselves into a corner. All of the work being produced at the end of the game would look far and above better than the stuff that was produced at the beginning, and so we’d probably have to go back and redo a lot of that work.</blue>

Almost since the game was announced in June 2008, the developers have said that they were well into content production.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-iii-heavily-into-development/] (Meaning that the engine and basic game functions were all locked down and working properly.) Content though, especially in Blizzard titles, is such a huge area of work that experienced Blizzard-watchers expected the content production and balancing would take years. And it has.

==Diablo III Beta Test==

The D3 Team regularly refered to a future beta test, but did not absolutely confirm it until Blizzcon 2010. They've not made any comments since then about what the beta might contain. Diablo II's beta was all five characters, but just Act One and the first three tiers of skills. It's likely that the Diablo III beta would follow a similar path, since the developers need to include enough game to keep players interested and to test out the early going. They do not want to reveal all of the plot and late game content though.

Blizzard beta tests generally last 4-6 months, and Jay Wilson estimated that Diablo III would be released about six months after its beta test begins. [[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzcon-video-interview-jay-wilson-direct-tv/]]

* See the [[Diablo 3 Beta]] article for much more on this issue.

==Blizzard Games Release Dates==

One commonly-cited piece of "evidence" is the fact that no Blizzard games have (yet) been released much more than three years after they were first announced.

* ''Starcraft'': Announced spring 1996, released April 1998. (2 years later.)
* ''Diablo 2'': Announced Sept 1997, released June 2000. (2 years, 9 months later.)
* ''Warcraft 3'': Announced Sept 1999, released July 2002. (2 years, 10 months later.)
* ''World of Warcraft'': September 2001, released Nov 2004. (3 years, 1 month later.)
* ''Starcraft 2'': Announced May 2007, released July 2010 (3 years, 2 months later.)

Diablo III was announced June 28, 2008.

===Diablo = Late June===
Diablo I was released in January 1997, but all of the games in the series since then have shown an affinity for late June:

* Diablo II release date: 29th of June 2000
* Diablo II: Lord of Destruction release date: 29th of June 2001
* Diablo III Announced at the WWI in Paris : 28th of June 2008

With this history in mind, many fans were hoping for a June 2011 release. (A date that became impossible when the calendar moved into 2011 without any sign of the beta test.) It's not out of the question that the Diablo III beta might begin around late June, 2011.

===Guess the Release Date===
If you're the betting type, there's a well-advanced release date prediction pool [http://forums.diii.net/showthread.php?t=700147 you can join in here].

==Diablo III Demo==
Blizzard has not said anything specifically about the upcoming demo of Diablo III, but when talking about StarCraft II, they said they had plans for a demo, and that they "use to do that after release". Most likely, we can expect a trial version of Diablo III ''after release''.
* See the [[Diablo III Demo]] article for more details about playable Diablo III demos.

==Diablo III Expansion Packs==

Blizzard has confirmed their intention to create multiple [[expansion pack]]s for Diablo III. These are expected to be released about every 18 months, following in the pattern established by World of Warcraft and Starcraft II.

==Related Information==
You can read more about the [[system requirements]], [[Beta Test|beta testing]], price/payment methods and age [[rating]] on the '''[[Diablo 3 Basics]]''' page.

==Release Date Gallery==

Images related to the Diablo III release date.

<gallery>
File:Release-date-fye1.jpg|Fye's very wrong January 2010 estimate.
File:Release-date-gameshop se1.jpg|Swedish Gameshop: December 31, 2010.
File:Release-date-newegg1.jpg|NewEgg.com: December 31, 2010.
File:Gamestop-invs.jpg|GameStop's in-store estimate: March 1, 2011.
File:Wal-mart1.jpg|Wal-Mart.com's estimate: March 1, 2011.
File:Release-date-bnet.png|Fan made fake screen of a digital download page on Battle.net. June 28, 2012 date.
</gallery>

==Archive==

Past date information, now rendered obsolete by the passage of time.

===Not 2010===
In Activision/Blizzard financial reports, two games are reported as being released this year: [[Starcraft II]] and [[World of Warcraft: Cataclysm]]. [[Diablo III]] was never part of Blizzard's release schedule for 2010.

===Starcraft II First===
There were some rumors in 2008[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/d3-release-date-rumors/] that Diablo 3 was further along in the development cycle than Starcraft 2. Blizzard immediately denied that, they always said Starcraft 2 would be released first, and it was, on July 27, 2010. With Diablo 3 still nowhere near beta testing at that point, that's as thorough a rumor debunking as you're ever going to see.

[[Category:Basics]]
[[Category:Diablo III]]
[[category:release date]]

Sacrifice

2011-02-17T07:36:58Z

NXCL: /* Skill Design */

'''Sacrifice''' is a [[Witch Doctor]] Tier 3 [[Witch Doctor skills|skill]] unlocked at [[clvl|level]] 6. One of the Witch Doctor's biggest damage skills, Sacrifice causes a [[Zombie Dog]] to explode, dealing substantial damage to nearby enemies.

==Background==
{{Skillbox
|game= Diablo III
|portrait= Mongrel-sacrifice-arena2.jpg
|portrait-width= 150px
|active= Active
|name= Sacrifice
|ranks= 5
|user= Witch Doctor
|tree= Tier 3
|description= A nearby zombie dog explodes, dealing X% of the zombie dog’s health as damage to monsters nearby
|type= Direct Damage
|quantity= % of health
|effect= Circular AoE
|school= [[Magical]]
|resource= [[Mana]]
|cost= 5 mana
|cast-time= Unknown
|cooldown= Unknown
|synergies= Unknown
}}
The Witch Doctor dispatches his zombie dogs if they are of no more use to him.

==Skill Design==
The specifics of how the damage is determined are not yet known. Does the "20%" figure refer to the dog's maximum health, or its health at the time of death?

If it is the latter, then it would be advisable to summon a new dog, and then immediately sacrifice it, rather than using this
skill on older Mongrels that are nearly dead.

The explosion in which the dogs are sacrificed is magnificent, and can easily take out multiple enemies if timed and positioned correctly.

==Skill Rank Table==
* '''Rank 1:''' A nearby zombie dog explodes, dealing 20% of the zombie dog’s health to nearby monsters. Cost: 5 mana.
* '''Rank 2:''' A nearby zombie dog explodes, dealing 40% of the zombie dog’s health to nearby monsters. Cost: 5 mana. (A)
* '''Rank 3:''' A nearby zombie dog explodes, dealing 60% of the zombie dog’s health to nearby monsters. Cost: 5 mana. (A)
* '''Rank 4:''' A nearby zombie dog explodes, dealing 80% of the zombie dog’s health to nearby monsters. Cost: 5 mana. (A)
* '''Rank 5:''' A nearby zombie dog explodes, dealing 100% of the zombie dog’s health to nearby monsters. Cost: 5 mana. (A)

(A) = Assumed
{{clear}}
[[Image:Skill witchdoctor sacrificesequence.jpg|thumb|centre|600px|A sequence of images showing sacrifice.]]

==[[Synergies]]==
[[File:Mongrel-sacrifice-arena1.jpg|thumb|400px|Sacrifice in the [[Arena]].]]
Though the [[Witch Doctor traits]] cover bonuses across the board to numerous spell casting exercises, none grant any specific bonuses to Sacrifice.

One [[trait]] does effect Mongrel deaths, though it's not known how these correlate with Sacrificed Mongrels vs. Mongrels killed by monsters.
* [[Unrelenting Assault]] -- 10% chance that a Zombie Dog will be brought back to life when it dies.

==[[Rune|Skill Rune]] Effects==
* None known.

==Development==
'''Sacrifice''' premiered with [[Diablo III]] in the [[WWI 2008]] gameplay video, and was a Tier II skill in the [[Voodoo Skill Tree]]. For [[BlizzCon 2009]], Sacrifice was moved to the [[Zombie Skill Tree]], but was otherwise unchanged.

Though it was not a starting skill in the [[BlizzCon 2010]] PvM demo, [[Flux]] found it to be very useful in the PvP demo:[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/hands-on-from-blizzcon-mega-pvp-arena-report/]

<blockquote>''The biggest damage skill he had, and one I made extensive use of. It was especially good late game, when hunting down the last Wizard. I’d chase with the dogs ahead of me, hurling Firebombs at, or just to cut off, the Wizard. As soon as one of the dogs got in range, even if it was just close enough to take one swipe at the running target… bang.</blockquote>

===Previous Versions===
See the [[Witch Doctor skill archive]] for more details on previous versions of Sacrifice and other Witch Doctor skills.


==Media==
You can find pictures in the Diablo III screenshot and picture gallery:
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/ Diablo III screenshots and pictures]
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/search.php?keywords=Sacrifice&cat=all '''Sacrifice''' specific gallery contents]

<gallery>
File:Wd-mongrel-blast.jpg|The distinctive explosion.
File:Mongrel-sacrifice-arena1.jpg|Mongrel detonation in the [[Arena]].
File:Mongrel-sacrifice-arena2.jpg|Mongrel detonation in the [[Arena]].
</gallery>

==References==
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/witch-doctor-gameplay-report/ BlizzCon 2008 Witch Doctor Gameplay Report]
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/full-witch-doctor-skills/ BlizzCon 2009 Full Witch Doctor Skill Trees and Stats]
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/hands-on-from-blizzcon-mega-pvp-arena-report/ BlizzCon 2010 PvP Hands-on Report]

{{Slave navbox Diablo III|WD}}

Gear sets

2011-01-31T07:38:03Z

NXCL: /* Mix and Match Armor? */

[[Gear sets]] is the term the [[D3 Team]] uses to describe the different levels of armor in Diablo III.

There are going to be 18 gear sets in Diablo III. A "gear set" is not an [[Item Set]], a group of themed magical items with interrelated magical bonuses. "Gear set" is just a term the developers use for pieces of armor of the same approximate level. The lowest level items, for each armor slot, would make up one gear set. As would the highest level items of each type, and the other 16 in between.

==Mix and Match Armor?==

[[File:Gear-set-wiz1.jpg|thumb|350px|Wizard set from Blizzcon 2010.]]
The Diablo III team has often stated their desire to avoid the mismatched, "clown suit" armor possible in Diablo II. They want the different items to mesh and blend together, at least somewhat, in Diablo III.

It's known that players will have the ability to use [[armor dyes]] to change the color scheme of their armor, but it's not yet clear just how gear sets and items worn determine what a character will look like. Gear sets are clearly matched in appearance, but what if you change out one minor items, like your [[shoulders]], or [[bracers]], or [[belt]]. Will that one item show up, looking mismatched? Or does the [[chest]] armor, or the majority of items, determine which look shows up on the character in the game?

It's also not known if there are 18 of every item, or just the chest pieces. If the chest piece determines the look, perhaps there are 18 chest pieces, but only say, 14 bracers, or 12 belts. After all, why bother making 18 of them, if the only difference would be the name and slightly different defense stats?

==BlizzCon 2010 Gear Set Previews==

During the weeks before Blizzcon 2010, Blizzard previewed six gear sets, two each for the Barbarian, Witch Doctor, and Wizard. They didn't include much information about the sets, but as seldom as new Diablo III visuals are released, fans were quite excited to see the new sets all the same.

Each one posted touched off extensive discussion and debate on the pros and cons of the armor, and there were frequent fan-recolorations and modifications of the more-controversial aspects of the gear sets (especially the male Wizard's helm). The news posts and a few related follow ups are listed below; click through to relive the delight and argument that these images spurred. The images themselves are displayed below, with the male and females combined by class.

* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/male-witch-doctor-gear-set-revealed/ Male Witch Doctor gear set], September 30, 2010. The court jester style set went over well enough.

* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/female-wizard-gear-set-preview/ Female Wizard gear set], October 5, 2010. The second gear set was well-received by fans, proving once again that everyone loves Asian girls.

* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/female-barbarian-gear-set-preview/ Female Barbarian gear set], October 7, 2010. The first gear set image
** It [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/female-barbarian-facial-evolution/ provoked major discussion] about the remodeled (prettier) female Barbarian's face.
** [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/vote-female-barbarian-new-or-old/ A vote found] that most fans approved of the new, prettier look.

* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/female-witch-doctor-gear-set/ Female Witch Doctor gear set], October 12, 2010, was fairly well-received.
** [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/reworked-improved-female-wd-gear-set/ A fan remake] turned up a day later all the same.

* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/male-wizard-gear-set-preview/ Male Wizard gear set], October 13, 2010, set off the biggest debate of all, about his huge "starfish" hat.
** [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/more-on-the-male-wizard-gear-set/ Many fan complaints and revisions] of his starfish hat.
** [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/male-wizard-gear-set-remixes-keep-on-coming/ And yet more fan remakes].
** [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/vote-the-wizards-starfish-hat.-yes-or-no/ A vote found very mixed opinions] about the helm, in contrast to the overwhelmingly negative fan comments.

* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/male-barbarian-gear-set-preview/ Male Barbarian gear set], October 18, 2010. The last of the sets, this one did not set off any big arguments with general approval of the ram's horns helm.

<center>
{|
| [[File:Gear-set-barb-mf.jpg|thumb|276px|Two Barbarian gear sets.]]
| [[File:Gear-set-wiz-mf.jpg|thumb|250px|Two Wizard gear sets.]]
| [[File:Gear-set-wd-mf.jpg|thumb|290px|Two Witch Doctor gear sets.]]
|}
</center>

==Blizzcon 2010 Panel Gear Sets==

More Gear sets were shown off during the [[Crafting Sanctuary]] Panel at Blizzcon 2010. These images are compilations, showing several different gear sets in one large image for easier viewing.

There were three sets shown on the male [[Barbarian]], with his animal-themed armors getting top billing.
[[File:Gear-set-barb-blizzcon2010.jpg|center|thumb|800px|Barbarian gear sets shown off in a Blizzcon 2010 panel. Animal themed armors predominate.]]

The male [[Witch Doctor]]'s sets made a stir by how exotic their designs were. The lower right set in this 2x2 image is his most famous set, one fans are calling the [[tentacle gear set]]. The black limb-like things along the outside of the shoulders and helm wave around, in constant motion. The effect doesn't translate well to a still image, sadly.

[[File:Gear-sets-wd-blizzcon2010.jpg|center|thumb|600px|Witch Doctor gear sets shown off during a Blizzcon 2010 panel. He does have some big hats.]]

==Diablo II Gear Sets==

The term was not used by the Diablo II developers, but they clearly structured the armor in that game into gear sets as well, of a sort. They weren't like the Diablo III gear sets, since there are very uneven amounts of different item types in Diablo II (many more types of helms or body armor than gloves or boots, for instance), and they don't line up to create matching outfits. Armor items in Diablo II look different on each class, but not as different or stylized as the do in Diablo III.

Still, it can be useful to compare the D2 characters, as seen in the 3D models that the art was done in, before it was converted and compressed into the tiny 2D sprites that you see while playing the game.

<center>
{|
| [[File:Gear-set-d2-ama.jpg|thumb|168px|The D2 Amazon.]]
| [[File:Gear-set-d2-barb.jpg|thumb|188px|The D2 Barb.]]
| [[File:Gear-set-d2-necro.jpg|thumb|179px|The D2 Necro.]]
| [[File:Gear-set-d2-pal.jpg|thumb|263px|The D2 Paladin.]]
|}
</center>

These images were posted in opposition/comparison to the first few Diablo III gear sets, in October 2010. See [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/comparing-d2-to-d3-gear-sets/ the original news post on Diii.net] for the full debate and lengthy fan discussions.

[[category:items]]
[[category:armor]]
[[category:gear Sets]]

Charms

2011-01-31T07:36:12Z

NXCL: /* Different Sized Charms? */

[[File:Talisman_full.png|right|Talisman full of charms.]]
After long speculation and silence from Blizzard's side, charms has been confirmed to be in the game during the Gameplay Panel at [[Blizzcon 2010]].

The [[D3 Team]] had long said that charms would not return to the game, and that they didn't like the inventory space trade off that using {{iw|charms Diablo II charms required}}. This has now been solved by assigning the elusive [[Talisman]] to be an exclusive "charm inventory". Charms will not yield any bonuses unless placed inside the talisman, but they can be placed outside the talisman for storage for future use.

==Different Sized Charms?==

Many fans have speculated about larger charms with bigger/better mods, but as of November 2010, all charms were the same 1x1 size. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-single-player-the-talisman-and-pre-game-hype/]

::''Will stronger charms take up more space in the talisman grid? --DrHighlen
::They’re all 1x1, regardless of power. Although it would be interesting to introduce other shapes, there are no plans for it. --Diablo

== Charm Affixes ==

*+x [[Strength]]
*+x [[Dexterity]]
*+x [[Vitality]]
*+x [[Willpower]]

[[Jay Wilson]] has specifically stated that charm affixes currently consist mainly of stat attribute bonuses, in other words, charms with [[Strength|strength]], [[Vitality|vitality]], [[Dexterity|dexterity]] or [[Willpower|willpower]] can at this point spawn. The complete number of affixes that can be spawned is currently unknown, however Jay Wilson mentioned during the Gameplay Panel at [[Blizzcon 2010]] that they didn't like the extremely varying charm affixes of [[Diablo II]].

[[category:items]]
[[category:artisans]]
[[category:mystic]]
[[category:charms]]

Demon Hunter

2011-01-28T06:33:41Z

NXCL: /* Background */

The '''Demon Hunter''' ranged attacking class. They specialize in bows and crossbows, which they supplement with numerous ranged attacks, traps of various types, and even a few melee range skills.

The Demon Hunter was the fifth and final playable class revealed for Diablo III and was announced in October 2010 at Blizzcon.

* [[Demon Hunter skills]].
* [[Demon Hunter traits]].

==Background==
{|cellpadding="2" width="250px" align="right" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; background: #2D0606; clear:left; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 10px; line-height: 10px; font-size: 10px;"
!colspan="2" style="text-align: center; line-height: 12px; font-size: 14px;"|'''[[Diablo III Class]]'''
|-
|colspan="2" style="text-align: center;"|[[File:Demon-hunter-art4.jpg|170px]]
|-
!colspan="2" style="text-align: center; line-height: 14px; font-size: 16px;"| The Demon Hunter
|-
| [[Skills]]:
| [[Demon Hunter skills]]
|-
| [[Traits]]:
| [[Demon Hunter traits]]
|-
| [[Resource]]:
| Unknown
|-
! colspan="2" | Common [[builds]]:
|-
| colspan="2" | Unknown.
|-
! colspan="2" |
<center>Background</center>
|-
| Origin:
| The [[Borderlands]].
|-
| Affiliation:
| Bounty Hunters.
|-
| Friends:
| Unknown
|-
| Foes:
| All demon kind.
|}

The demon hunters are a group of fanatical warriors sworn to a single purpose: the destruction of the creatures of the Burning Hells. The demon hunters make their home in the Borderlands, away from the jurisdiction of any nation. At any time, over half of them are dispatched to various parts of the world to fight hellspawn. There is something in all demon hunters that gives them the strength to resist the demonic corruption that would drive lesser men to madness. They hone this power, for their resistance to this taint enables them to use the demons' power as a weapon. But their mission and their power are not all that bind them together.

The female Demon Hunter in Diablo III fled from her village as a child during a demonic invasion. She was the only survivor. After days, she was found by a Demon Hunter and was taken in as a member.
Since every Demon Hunter has a story like this, it is possible that the background for the male character will be similar.

==Class Design==

Blizzcon 2010's Gameplay Panel called "A Hero Emerges" was dominated by the Demon Hunter's Class Design. The Demon Hunter fills out the rpg-archetype of a conventional ranged class, using ranged weaponry mostly and primarily. She is designed as a sort of "Bounty Hunter", preparing for battle and therefore using gadgets and traps as well.

Jay Wilson described the class genesis in an interview published in the Blizzcon 2010 show program:

<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-interview-blizzcon-program/ Jay Wilson Interview: BlizzCon 2010 Show Program] - IncGamers October 25, 2010</ref>

::''Where did the idea for the Demon Hunter come from?
::'''Jay Wilson:''' It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that we chose a ranged-weapon class as the fifth class; however we didn’t want to do something completely predictable. We liked the idea of a bounty hunter or a monster-hunter—someone who was a little bit more sinister and an aggressor—and so we came up with a character whose sole focus was, “I hate demons.” She’s had horrible things happen to her. She’s lost family, lost loved ones, and has dedicated her life to eradicating as many demons as she can by any means possible. As a character, she’s walked a lot of dark roads to gain the knowledge she needs to overcome her enemy.

::With the demon hunter we found inspiration in characters like Van Helsing, Boba Fett, and even MacGyver. The demon hunter is very focused on conventional, man-made weaponry and gadgets. She dual-wields crossbows, and where one class might conjure a magical fireball, the demon hunter would buy a device in the lower markets of Caldeum that would allow her to trap the essence of a demon and then release that essence in an explosive blast, not unlike a hand grenade. She has no qualms about using her enemies against themselves, dabbling in dark magic, and generally doing whatever it takes to destroy demons wherever they live.

===Male Demon Hunter===

[[File:Dh-male-outline.jpg|frame|Male Demon Hunter outline?]]
The male Demon Hunter wasn't ready to be shown at Blizzcon 2010, just like the female Monk wasn't ready at Blizzcon 2009. She was revealed early in 2010, and expectations are that the male Demon Hunter will be added in early 2011.

@Diablo teased this in a tweet on January 13, 2011. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/male-demon-hunter-coming-soon/ @Diablo tweet] - Twitter, January 13, 2011</ref>

::How’s the male DH progressing?
::He’s doing well. He’s supposed to be stopping by sometime next week actually. We’ll see. You know how he is. -Diablo

===Ranger Design Evolution===

The team has talked about the evolution of the character concept. They knew from the start that they wanted a ranged attacking class, but weren't at all sure what kind or what the lore would be. [[Christian Lichtner]] spoke on that from Blizzcon 2010:<ref>[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/interviews/8291-BlizzCon-2010-The-Art-and-Design-of-Diablo-III.2 Christian Lichtner @ Blizzcon 2010] - The Escapist November 7, 2010</ref>

::'''Christian Lichtner:''' For the Demon Hunter, for example, we had a desert ranger at some point and it was awesome, it was really cool. It was an interesting take on the ranger, we didn't have that before. Like all our other classes, we tried to give it a little bit of a twist. One of the things with that was when we were doing the desert ranger, we found that stuff was getting a little bit clunky, we had a little too much cloth on him. And while it looks really cool, it also starts looking bulkier. And whenever we start seeing a class that looks really bulky, we start thinking short sword, or daggers, or fist weapons - stuff you can melee with. We wanted to strive to stay away from that. There have been other ideas that we had that were really, really cool that I think we're going to save.

===Melee Combat?===

There were no melee combat skills for the Demon Hunter at Blizzcon 2010, but during the panel discussion the team talked about earlier designs of the character where she had one demonic arm and huge strength, along with some melee combat skills. Those may or may not return in further design.

Jay Wilson spoke on this from Blizzcon 2010: <ref>[http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/pc/games/156898.Diablo-III/features/135958.20101024.Diablo-III-Interview-with-Jay-Wilson/ Jay Wilson Interview @ GamePlanet NZ] - GamePlanet New Zealand. October 24, 2010</ref>

[[File:FoK2.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Fan of Knives]] in action.]]
::'''''GP: '''Like the Amazon before it, will the Demon Hunter be able to spec for melee?
::'''Jay Wilson:''' We haven’t really decided on that yet! We’ve focused initially away from melee oriented abilities because we’re trying to capture the essence of the class, and the essence isn’t melee.

::That being said, on the Wizard, we certainly did a lot of things that were more melee oriented, recognizing that there are some players that may want to create a “battle mage,” you know? So there is the capacity to do that for that character. If we find a compelling archetype in our heads then we’ll try to make skills that suit that.

::The only skill for the Demon Hunter that we have right now that does kind of fit the bill is called [[Fan of Knives]] where she throws an array of knives a very short distance all around her. It’s not a melee skill but it is a very close range skill.

::If we can come up with a great idea for a melee build then we’ll definitely do that as long as it doesn’t detract from the core of who she is as a character.

[[Bashiok]] also spoke on this in October 2010.<ref>[http://www.blizzblues.com/us/bashiok-quick-question-about-the-new-class-27401646825.html Bashiok forum post] - Battle.net, October 26, 2010</ref>
::The demon hunter isn't restricted to ranged weapons but is of course the core archetype of the class. It's a bit early for determining usable weapons still, but I know at the least one-handers/shields are planned to be usable. And it's likely there will at least be some traits that improve melee weapon use.

==Skills==
Nine Demon Hunter skills were revealed at Blizzcon 2010. All her skills are described in detail on the [[Demon Hunter skills]] page, and in more detail, with screenshots, on their individual articles. See also the [[Demon Hunter traits]] for some insight into the passive skills that make her tick.

[[File:Molten trail.jpg|thumb|350px|Scorched earth left behind a [[Molten Arrow]].]]
'''Ranged Bow and Crossbow Attacks:'''
* [[Bola Shot]] -- A ranged attack that wraps around the target and explodes.
* [[Entangling Shot]] -- A ranged attack that slows the target, potentially chaining it to nearby enemies.
* [[Molten Arrow]] -- A ranged attack imbued with fire, leaving a trail of fire behind.
* [[Multishot]] -- A ranged attack firing a flurry of arrows at a time.

'''Traps and Tools:'''
* [[Grenade]] -- Throws multiple grenades which detonate after a short count down.
* [[Shock Spike]] -- A trap that cuts nearby enemies and shoots sawblades back and forth between other Shock Spikes, creating cutting zones.
* [[Spike Trap]] -- A trap which opens into spike-filled vortex, grinding any demons stepping on it.

'''Movement and Melee Skills:'''
* [[Vault]] -- The Demon Hunter's "move skill". Has a shadowy theme and some acrobatics to it.
* [[Fan of Knives]] -- AKA "knife nova." Short range attack sprays a volley of knives in a circle around the Demon Hunter.

==Traits==
The Demon Hunter had only five traits during her reveal in the Blizzcon 2010 PvM demo. She'll have far more in the final game, of course. See the [[Demon Hunter traits]] page for more detail on all of these, and a list of traits possessed by multiple other characters that will surely be added to the Demon Hunter as well.

* [[Lightning Reflexes]] -- Increases [[dexterity]].
* [[Toughness]] -- Increases [[vitality]].
* [[Ranged Weapon Specialization]] -- Increases damage done by skills and weapons when the Demon Hunter is wielding a ranged weapon.
* [[Unbreakable Will]] -- Increases [[willpower]].
* [[Pound of Flesh]] -- Increases the chance to get a health globe from normal monsters by 20%. Also increases the amount of healing provided by 10%.

==Resource System==

The Demon Hunter used quickly-regenerating [[mana]] as her [[resource]] in the Blizzcon 2010 PvM demo. This was merely a temporary solution, since the team wants to give each class in the game a unique resource. Jay Wilson elaborated on this in an interview from Blizzcon, in October 2010.<ref>[[http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/pc/games/156898.Diablo-III/features/135958.20101024.Diablo-III-Interview-with-Jay-Wilson/ Jay Wilson Interview @ Blizzcon 2010] - GamePlanetNZ. October 25, 2010</ref>

::'''''GP: '''What’s the Demon Hunter’s resource system?''
::'''Jay: '''She doesn’t have one yet. Right now she’s just using mana and that’s temporary. It’s our goal that every class have a unique one – and really, I’m not even being coy here, we really don’t have one! We’ve got about five or six ideas on the table.

::'''''GP: '''Care to share a couple of them!?
::''''Jay: '''No! [laughs] Mainly because I’m not the primary designer of the Demon Hunter and I don’t want to give away anything that [[Wyatt Cheng|Wyatt]] might not actually want me to say!

==Class Background==

[[File:Demon-hunter-ingame1.jpg|frame|In-game view.]]
The official bio of the Demon Hunter is of a survivor of demonic attack. The class is made, not born; existing Demon Hunters find survivors in their travels, and those with spirit and skill are inducted into the order and taken to their training grounds in [[The Borderlands]] where they are trained in the combat skills they'll need to take vengeance on the monsters that destroyed their families and village.

Demon Hunters use every tool at their disposal to fight monsters, including traps, gadgets, and bits of dark magic. The glowing eyes of the Demon Hunter in the cinematic introduction is meant as a hint of this willingness to experiment and dabble in the dark arts.

Many of the class skills reflect this design, with their combination of several of her core elements including, "tactical," "traps and gadgets," "swift and acrobatic," "ranged," "shadowy and dark."

===Official Lore===
From the Writings of [[Abd al-Hazir]], [[Writings of Abd al-Hazir: Entry no. 0068|Journal Entry #35]]

<blockquote>I have just returned from my travels on the edge of the frozen wasteland known as the Dreadlands, a once-beautiful place forever changed by some great calamity in its history. Now, only ruined cities and bleak landscapes remain, no place for any living thing. I was headed for the village of Bronn for the night, but when I arrived, I found a scene of devastation such as I had never seen before. I should have fled at the first sign of danger, but my curiosity drove me forward. Most of the town's buildings had been burnt to their foundations, and a few charred timbers were the only sign of where they had once stood. Ash choked my lungs. There were bodies strewn everywhere, many dismembered and some even half consumed. The city was abandoned.
 
Or so I thought.
 
From the husk of the inn, one of the few buildings still standing, monstrous, gray-skinned creatures burst forth, shouting in some infernal tongue. They were masses of misshapen flesh, of sinewy muscle made for battle. Helpless, I stood frozen as they drew close. The one in the lead seized me by the front of my cloak and lifted me from the ground, its claws tearing through fabric and skin. Its breath was hot on my face, and I was assaulted by the putrid smell of rotten flesh. Its mouth yawned wide, and I saw rows of sharpened teeth, yellowed and stained with blood. I thought only of the shame that my voice would be silenced, never to illuminate another of the wonders of our world for you, my loyal readers.
 
A sharp sound whistled by my ear, and a crossbow bolt sprouted from the eye of the beast before me, spraying my face with its burning blood. It howled an inhuman cry of pain and threw me to the ground, grabbing at the quarrel. The other creatures scanned for this unseen attacker, and I was forgotten for the moment. From the ground at their feet, I tore my head around to see where the bolt had come from.
 
"She emerged from the shadows cast by the setting sun and wasted no time in dispatching the rest of my attackers. Her hands worked twin crossbows, launching a glowing arc of flaming bolts over my head, blanketing the hulking monsters."
 
[[File:Dh-cinematic2.jpg|thumb|400px|A Demon Hunter turns a survivor into a new recruit.]]That was when I saw a demon hunter for the first time.
 
The girl could have been no more than twenty. She emerged from the shadows cast by the setting sun and wasted no time in dispatching the rest of my attackers. Her hands worked twin crossbows, launching a glowing arc of flaming bolts over my head, blanketing the hulking monsters. Every shot found its mark in one of the horned beasts, felling the lot of them. From the corner of my eye, I saw more of the savage brutes sneaking up on her from behind. My voice froze in my throat as I tried to scream a warning. I needn't have worried: she was not unaware. The hunter reached into her belt and rolled a trio of strange metal spheres into their path. The monsters looked down just as the contraptions exploded into light and flame, stunning them. It gave her enough time to round on them, her crossbows dispatching them one by one.
 
With a last look over the town, apparently satisfied that no danger remained for her, she came forward, shaking her head sadly. There was a look of profound disappointment on her face as she returned the crossbows to her sides, hidden by the folds of her cloak.
 
"No survivors," she said bitterly.
 
They call themselves the demon hunters, a group of fanatical warriors sworn to a single purpose: the destruction of the creatures of the Burning Hells. The demon hunters number in the hundreds and make their home in the Dreadlands so that they can live and train without the interference of any nation that would worry over having such a fearsome group camped within its borders (though at any time over half are dispatched across the world like this girl, seeking hellspawn). There is something in all demon hunters that gives them the strength to resist the demonic corruption that would drive lesser men to madness. They hone this power, for their resistance to this taint enables them to use the demons' power as a weapon. But their mission and their power are not all that bind them together.
 
That night, the girl told me of her life, about how, as a child, the demons had descended upon her town. She had watched as demons destroyed her home, setting her village to the torch. They murdered everyone she knew and stole from her everyone she loved. She should have died with them, but she fled, hiding from the hellspawn for days until she was found by a demon hunter who saw the strength in her and took her in as one of their own. Each and every demon hunter, she told me, has a story like this.
 
They are the survivors, and they are searching for vengeance.</blockquote>

==Media==
You can find every sort of Diablo III screenshot and artwork [http://www.diii.net/gallery/ in the picture gallery].
* Demon Hunter [http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/search.php?keywords=hunter&cat=560&x=0&y=0 Act One screenshots]
* Demon Hunter [http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/search.php?keywords=hunter&cat=561&x=0&y=0 Act Two screenshots]
* Demon Hunter [http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/search.php?keywords=hunter&cat=509&x=0&y=0 Character Artwork]
* Demon Hunter [http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/search.php?keywords=hunter&cat=510&x=0&y=0 Wallpapers]

<gallery>
File:Demon-hunter-art1.jpg|Demon Hunter light armor/weapon concept art.
File:Demon-hunter-art2.jpg|Demon Hunter medium armor/weapon concept art.
File:Demon-hunter-art3.jpg|Demon Hunter heavy armor/weapon concept art.
File:Demon-hunter-art4.jpg|Demon Hunter very heavy armor/weapon concept art.
File:Demon-hunter-ingame1.jpg|Seen in-game.
File:Dh-cinematic1.jpg|Demon Hunter from her cinematic.
</gallery>

[[File:Demon-hunter-art1-4.jpg|center|thumb|800px|The Demon Hunter artwork showing her armor/weapon progression from light to heavy.]]

==Trivia==
* The Demon Hunter's Fan of Knives is comparible to the Warden's Fan of Knives in Warcraft 3:The Frozen Throne or the Fan of Knives Level 80 Ability Acquired by the Rogue in World of Warcraft.

==References==
<references/>

{{Master Nav|d3|Demon_Hunter}}

[[Category:Classes]]
[[category:Demon Hunter]]

Combat

2011-01-28T06:06:58Z

NXCL: /* More Immersive/Difficult Combat */

Combat is the main activity engaged in while playing games in the Diablo series; they're not known as click-fests for nothing. Diablo isn't an [[RPG]] with a lot of social activities, or professions, or [[NPC]] dialogue. It's about killing vast hordes of evil [[monster]]s.

Every class in [[Diablo III]] is a [[DPS]] class; all are capable of prolifically slaying the enemies, whether by spells, skills, brute force, or a clever combination of all three.

Aspects of combat are addressed throughout this wiki. [[Weapons]] and [[skills]] are detailed, monsters are described, [[strategy|strategies]] are promoted, and more. This page covers the basics of combat, and how the game is designed to facilitate it, with numerous quotes from the [[D3 Team]].

=Damage Types=

As in previous games in the series, there are numerous types of damage in [[Diablo III]]. Various spells, [[skill]]s, [[skillrunes]], and weapons channel their destructive might into one (or more) types of damage. Characters and [[monster]]s counter these attacks with equivalent types of resistance and immunities, and players must find the right balance of each if they wish to succeed in their battles.

[[Image:Barb-cold-light.jpg|thumb|300px|Axes with cold and lightning damage show their graphics.]]
Damage in Diablo III takes the following forms. Every form of damage can count for a [[critical hit]] (caused by various item or skill properties) and when a "crit" is landed, a bonus effect is added along with increased damage.

[[Physical Damage]]:
* Critical hit: Deals double damage.

[[Arcane Damage]]: Purple in coloration.
* Critical hit: Arcane crits "silence" targets. (Silenced targets can not cast some spells, such as a [[Skeletal Summoner]] or [[Goatman Shaman]] resurrecting fallen minions.)

[[Cold Damage]]: Blue in coloration.
* Critical hit: Cold crits freeze targets for 2 seconds.

[[Fire Damage]]: Red in coloration.
* Critical hit: Fire crits set targets ablaze, adding [[DoT]] to the initial fire damage.

[[Lightning Damage]]: White in coloration.
* Critical hit: Lightning crits stun targets for 2 seconds.

[[Disease Damage]]: Green in coloration. (Formerly known as "Toxic.")
* Critical hit: Disease crits deal an unknown bonus.
* Resisted by Poison resistance.
** Diseased units suffer a damage debuff; they take more damage and deal less.

[[Poison Damage]]: Green in coloration. (Also known as Acid.)
* Critical hit: Poison crits deal an unknown bonus.
* Resisted by Poison resistance.
** Poisoned units suffer a health debuff; their regeneration and healing is lessened or reversed.

[[Holy Damage]]: White in coloration. (Found mostly on [[Monk skills]].) Extra damage to [[Undead]]?
* Critical hit: Unknown.

==Spell Damage==

One of the biggest changes to [[combat]] in Diablo III is the way spell damage is calculated. It's been changed to work much like physical damage does; spells now come with a fairly low base damage, much like weapons, and that value is acted upon by attributes, spells, traits, and equipment bonuses, all of which factor in to the final spell damage. Equipment with +%spell damage is quite common, and mage characters will want to collect as much equipment of that type as possible, in order to improve their killing power.

One of the biggest effects of this change is that spell casters will no longer be able to wearing all +[[magic find]] gear. A [[Wizard]] or [[Witch Doctor]] can wear that sort of gear if they want, but if they forgo +%spell damage equipment their killing power will be very poor; much like a physical damage character trying to play in Hell with a base damage weapon.

* See the [[Spells#Spell_Damage|Spell Damage]] article for full details.

==Damage Types Update==

Blizzard's [[@Diablo]] Twitter feed added some clarification about damage types in posts made in early December 2010.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-damage-types-and-resistances/]

<blockquote>any change in the range of damage types to include holy, shadow, voodoo or anything else to match the classes? —Scyberdragon 
Damage types will likely change some but are currently Physical, Fire, Lightning, Cold, Poison, Disease, Arcane, and Holy. —Diablo
 
Whats the difference between poison and disease damage?—WickedBubba 
Disease has a damage debuff (both intake and output), and poison has a health debuff (regen/heal). Subject to change of course.—Diablo
 
Is there much difference between poison and disease? They’re both internal maladies that hurt over a period of time.—Grug 
Fairly significant in their difference, but both countered with a single resistance. Damage/resists aren’t design complete though.—Diablo</blockquote>

=Health Bar=

[[Image:Bosshealth.jpg|thumb|Boss' health]] In the Blizzcon 2008 build monsters' health bar were displayed in the centre of the screen above the opponent's head, but this has since been changed for various reason, not least it was distracting. The regular monsters' bar is now displayed at the bottom of the screen. The bar for uniques and bosses, (seen in the image on the left) was and remains in the top right of the screen.

=Target Outline=

One of the surprise controversies of Blizzcon 2009 was the [[red target outline]]. A new feature just added to the game was a glowing red outline around the monster being pointed at. This outline was meant to help players identify what they were pointing at on the frequently-crowded and chaotic battle screens of Diablo 3. Most players didn't mind or didn't even notice while playing at the show, but for some at Blizzcon, and for many others viewing screenshots and gameplay movies over the Internet, the red outline was bright and too obvious and distracting.

[[File:Red-target-outline5.png|right|thumb|250px|Red target outline seen in PvP Arena, Blizzcon 2010.]]
This became a minor issue of contention, but the D3 Team is very strongly behind the inclusion of the feature, as Jay Wilson made quite clear during an October, 2009 interview. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/]

::'''Jay Wilson: '''I consider it absolutely essential for target selection. We tried tons of other systems, and that’s the one that worked really well. The complaint we get is that it makes the monsters pop out from the world, and our response is that’s exactly what it’s supposed to do.

This feature [http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=783237 remained controversial] when it was seen in Blizzcon 2010 gameplay footage, though virtually no fans who have actually played the game have any complaints about it. It just stands out more noticeably in still images.

=Information Through Graphics=

[[Image:Barb-cleave2.jpg|thumb|300px|Cold [[crits]] freezes the target. (The red slash is part of the [[Cleave]] skill graphic, not fire.]]
The visuals tied to damage types are meant to add eye candy, but also to inform the player about events occurring on the screen. As Julian Love explained during BlizzCast #8, in March 2009. [http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/blizzcast-8-live-with-diablo-iii-goodies]

::'''Bashiok: '''A lot of the effects that you make factor in to the abilities that the characters are using, so fire and arcane and all that stuff, but in the world of Diablo it seems like there are very specific magic types that exist... it is actually a pretty broad spectrum, but is there any limitation there to what you can do with different damage types?

::'''Julian: '''Yeah in fact that’s a common input that I’ll receive is “Hey this guy’s a fiery this or whatever, but can we make that fire look green?” And that’s where the sort of designer in me has to kind of come out and say, wait a minute if we make fire green all of a sudden it’s a bit of a miscommunication in terms of the gameplay. And so there is a bit of constraint there that, at one point I’m trying to make things look as epic as they can, but at the same time they have to be really clear to the player so that they’re not confused that you know, green fire might mean poison. Then there’s the other part of it which is it’s really easy in my department to make a big mess. We can just clobber the screen with so many effects that you just can’t see the game anymore. So those are really the two constraints we really work with most.

==Critical Hit Visuals==

[[Image:Critical-hit2.jpg|thumb|250px|Cold critical hit, with highlighted gore.]]
[[Critical hits]] inflict extra damage and/or bonus effects (detailed above). Various skills and items can improve the odds of a critical hit, as well as the damage it deals. Other skills or item effects trigger each time a critical hit is scored, creating an interesting and interconnected system of damage bonuses.

Critical hits existed in Diablo II, but they were indicated only by a small sparkle of white light. That concept has been vastly upgraded in Diablo III. Now, when a [[monster]] takes a "crit" there's a dramatic graphical effect, especially if the death is due to crits. Monsters so slain literally explode, shattering into gory chunks that fly across the screen and litter the ground. These animations are customized for whatever type of damage killed them; flames will be seen on the hunks of meat if the critical was fire-based, sparks rise from lightning, etc. Physical damage crits leave huge slicks of blood and give a battlefield a lovely post-massacre patina.

* See the [[critical hits]] page for much more detail.

=In Depth Combat=

One criticism of earlier games in the series is that they are fairly one-dimensional, in terms of combat. One or two skills can be used over and over again, in almost every situation, and there's little thought required. This was especially the case in [[Diablo II]], where players were nearly god-like in their powers and could easily escape almost any dangerous situation by running or [[teleport]]ing away. The [[D3 Team]] wants to make combat much more tactical in D3; it will still be a fast-paced, click-intensive Action RPG, but there should be a bit more strategy required than "click 'til dead."

[[Jay Wilson]] talked about the shallowness of combat in D2, and his plans to deepen it in D3 [http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=0&cId=3172030&p=1 with 1up.com] in December 2008.

::The combat model doesn't have a lot of depth in the previous games. It was very much a "one-skill spam" kind of game, which I think works great for the Normal [difficulty] playthrough. I think most of the audience is just fine with that, and through most of the Normal difficulty, it's going to be like that. But as you go into Nightmare and Hell difficulties, I think that the more serious player will appreciate a game that's a little deeper on the combat-mechanic side.

::'''1up.com: What makes Diablo 3's combat deeper than its predecessors?'''

::Jay Wilson: Combat is as deep as the options the designers give themselves. Whenever you add a new capability to a [[monster]] -- potentially something that feels unbeatable -- it's more of an opportunity to expand the depth of your characters so they can respond to those threats. A good example would be if you look at [[Diablo 2]]: There were a couple of problems with just the power of the characters and the way they were made powerful. A player could run faster than any [[monster]], so you could escape just about any threat. You had endless [[health]] and [[resource pool|resource]] -- by resource, I mean [[mana]] -- because of [[potion]]s. And you had the [[Town Portal]], which could instantly get you out of any problem. Those were incredibly powerful mechanics to escape danger and were not class-specific. So every kind of class really had no need for anything like an escape skill or reactionary ability. They simply needed to attack, and if they ever got in over their heads, they simply ran away or drank potions. And it's the same response across the board.

::So one of the things we focused on is that response -- 1) setting up scenarios where the players can't easily get out of danger without the use of class-specific [[skill]]s, and 2) giving them really simple controls to use a broader range of skills without making the game that much more complex to play. I really distinguish the difference between complexity and depth; to me, complexity is adding more buttons, while depth is making a single button more powerful and versatile. So that's always been our goal -- reducing the amount of controls while making each button mean more. So that's one of the reasons we added the Hotbar; it's one of the reasons why we avoided the potion-health system. And when people play the game, they may not notice this next point that much, but we leveled out the movement speed somewhat so that the player moves at a more reasonable rate compared to the monsters.

==More Immersive/Difficult Combat==

Diablo III does not include [[Town Portals]], life [[leech]] is very rare, and [[Healing Potions]] carry a substantial [[cool down]] after each use. These changes (amongst others) were made to improve the combat and immersive feeling of the game. The developers felt that potions, life leech, and town portals were exploited in Diablo II, and were a chief reason for the game being very easy 99.9% of the time, and unfairly hard (due to one-hit kills) the other .1%.

The design goal of Diablo III is to make combat more immersive and challenging. Characters cannot heal so easily and cannot flee combat at any time (via town portals), thus the monsters are more difficult and dangerous, even without the potential for cheesy/buggy one-hit kills. The developers hope this will create a more tense, exciting atmosphere and make combat feel more real and intense.

[[category:basics]]
[[category:combat]]

Dreadlands

2011-01-28T06:02:50Z

NXCL: /* Background */

The '''Dreadlands''' are the former '''Barbarian Highlands''', also once called the '''Northern Steppes'''.

==Background==
After the events of [[Diablo II]], resulting in the destruction of the [[Worldstone]], the land has become barren as the Barbarians who used to protect it have left, thus earning it the name of Dreadlands.

The Dreadlands, specifically [[Bronn]], was once visted by [[:Category:Abd_al-Hazir|Abd al-Hazir]] after its destruction and he lamented that the once-beautiful place had been forever changed by the great calamity and now lay as ruined cities and a bleak landscape fit for no living thing.

==Areas Within the Dreadlands==
* [[Bronn]]

==Creatures Found in the Dreadlands==

Unknown

==References==

<references/>
* [[Writings_of_Abd_al-Hazir:_Entry_no._0035|Writings of Abd al-Hazir: Demon Hunter]]


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[[Category:Sanctuary]]
[[Category:Barbarian]]
[[Category:Sovereigns]]