Checkpoints in Diablo 3 function similar to respawn points in FPS games. Players who die appear back at the last checkpoint they reached, usually at the stairs that they took to reach the current level, or the closest chokepoint that separates two outdoor levels.
Description
Checkpoints are not spots on the ground that must be clicked, like waypoints. They aren't visible in the game at all, until your character passes through one, at which point a "checkpoint reached" title pops with flashing graphics.
You will notice it.
The D3 Team had talked [1] about allowing players to resume a new game at the last checkpoint reached if they wish it, which turned into players being able to travel to checkpoints through a Waypoint menu.
Checkpoints overwrite each other, so the player may only have a single checkpoint active at any given time.
Convenient Travel Options
Checkpoints are designed to save players time and effort when they die, allowing their character to quickly rejoin the party and continue the battle. Players restart at the last checkpoint they passed through, fully equipped and recovered in health. Checkpoints are common enough that a character seldom requires more than a minute to run from one to the site of their death.
Checkpoints are necessary in Diablo 3 since there are no town portal scrolls or spells. This is a design decision to force more honest/nervy play, by removing the easy monster escape of a town portal.
Since there are no town portals, the D3 Team has made waypoints more common and improved their function and UI design. Waypoints will be the primary way players move between town and the field. Jay Wilson detailed this concept in an October 2009 interview:[2]
- Diii.net: How will we sell items easily in town, since there are no more town portals? How do you pop back quickly and easily without slowing down the gameplay?
- Jay Wilson: Waypoints are a little bit more frequent and your bag space is a little bit bigger.
- Diii.net: It’s going to be Diablo 2 in style? There won’t be pets you can send back, or NPC merchants out in the wild, or any other odd features?
- Jay Wilson: No.
A bit more about waypoints was shared via Blizzard's Twitter feed in January 2010. [3]
- Updated waypoint design and UI implemented. Waypoints will function similar to Diablo II.
In addition to waypoints and checkpoints, the D3 Team has talked about adding some mechanism to allow characters to travel instantly from town to the location of the other characters in the game. This would work something like a one-way town portal, letting a newcomer to the game get right into the action, but not working as a way to travel to and from town for exploitative reasons.