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There will be around 25 skills per character in Diablo 3, all [[active]]. Passive skills were found in the [[skill tree]]s in earlier versions of the game but they were removed during 2010 development.
Before the rearranging and removal of passive skills, the team was planning to have about 35 skills per character, as [[Jay Wilson]] detailed in an October 2009 interview: <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/Jay Wilson Interview @ Diii.net]- IncGamers, October 2009</ref>
::'''''Diii.net: '''We saw 30-35 skills for the Wizard (30), Barbarian (35), and Witch Doctor (34), at Blizzcon. Can you give us an idea how close to the final skill trees those are?
[[Image:Skill-tree-blizzcon09-wd-muldric.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Witch Doctor skill|Witch Doctor Skill Tree]] interpretation by [http://forums.diii.net/showthread.php?t=739038 Muldric].]]
Only 7 skills can have points placed in them at one time, in Diablo III. This fact was revealed via the @Diablo twitter feed in late-September, 2010. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-skills-party-help-and-beta-confirmation/@Diablo]- IncGamers, September 2010</ref>
::Bash said U can only have 7 skills at a time, does that mean I can’t have skill points in an 8th skill or U can only have 7 on UI?—TheEliminator
It's not yet been made clear how many skill points can be placed into the skills, or how quickly points may be added to the skills. Characters could add one per level in Diablo 2, but many other RPGs have different limits, sometimes allowing points only every 3rd or 5th level up. This technique allows for skills to gain much more benefit per level, making them ultimately more powerful.
Nothing has ever been said about how quickly points can be added to skills in Diablo 3, but in June 2010 Bashiok said that the skill caps would be set by difficulty level, and would progress by 5 points each. Thus characters would have a maximum of 5/10/15 on normal/nightmare/hell. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/skill-caps-increase-on-nm-hell/Bashiok forum post]- IncGamers, June 2010</ref>
This seemed viable and interesting to most players, until Bashiok took it all back a couple of weeks later: <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/max-level-and-more-on-skill-caps/Bashiok forum post]- IncGamers, July 2010</ref>
::'''Bashiok:''' Ignore everything I said about raising skill caps, that was an old, old design for how it could potentially work and I had a lapse of memory.
No further clarifications were in order, but when the issue was next raised in September 2010, [[@Diablo]]'s comment made a max cap of 15 seem fairly likely. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-skills/@Diablo]- IncGamers, September 2010</ref>
::'''Akumagin:''' How many skills, active and passive, will we be able to maximize with the 60 level cap? —Akamugin:::'''@Diablo:''' It hasn’t been nailed down, but probably three, maybe four active skills at highest cap can be maxed out at 60. —Diablo
::...but can be increased up to Fifteen.
:::'''Bashiok:''' Potentially twenty.
==The Skill Design Team==
[[Jay Wilson]] revealed the key skill designer guys on the Daiblo 3 team in an October 2009 interview. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcriptJay Wilson Interview @ Diii.net]- IncGamers, October 2010</ref>
::'''''Diii.net: '''Can you place your heads into the lion’s jaws and name the 3 of you who work on skills?
The skill tree format we'll see in Diablo 3 has undergone many design changes, and is still in flux. The form seen at Blizzcon 2009 (represented by images on this page) was thought to be fairly final, but in November 2009 Blizzard let it be known that the UI had been entirely reworked, moving away from trees and to a more menu/tier system. As of Blizzcon 2010 there were no "tree" elements in the skill trees. They were purely a listing of skills, grouped by tiers without any requirements other than Clvl.
The skills were further reduced by teh the 2010 removal of all passive skills, which became [[traits]].
* See the [[skill trees]] article for much more detail and full citations for these changes.
File:Skill-tree-blizzcon09-barb-muldric.jpg|Fan-made recreations of the trees seen at Blizzcon 2009.
</gallery>
==Skill Caps==
::''Currently we’re envisioning the majority of skills to be capped at 5 points, to begin with. As a form of progression we're planning for players to be able to increase the point caps of skills. More than likely to a maximum of 15. It's a system that’s still under heavy design, but the fact of choosing and increasing key skills beyond their initial cap is important to this new unified tier system.''
Until June 2010 this was all we knew, and fans were free to speculate that skill levels would be increased by Clvl requirements, quests/in-game achievements, skill runes, item bonuses, or something else. The speculation ended in June 2010, when [[Bashiok]] confirmed that the caps would be tied to difficulty level. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/skill-caps-increase-on-nm-hell/Bashiok forum post]- IncGamers, June 2010</ref>
::...the cap raises another five every difficulty level? So when you reach hell difficulty the caps would be at 15? No?
==Active and Passive Skills==
Diablo III skills are either "[[active skills|active]]" or "[[passive skills|passive]]." A huge change was made to the skill trees during development in 2010, when all the passive skills were removed<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-3-has-no-passive-skills/Bashiok forum post] - IncGamers, February 2010</ref> <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-iiis-maximum-level-announced-60/Bashiok forum post] - IncGamers, March 2010</ref> from the Diablo III [[skill trees]] and moved to the [[traits]].
Earlier in the game, the skill trees were much as they'd been in Diablo II, with a mixture of passive and active skills.
Active skills are used by clicking their icon, and are generally direct attacks; things like [[Spirit_Skill_Tree#Soul_Harvest|Soul HarvestFirebomb]], [[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 , now called [[traits]], 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 MagicsPrismatic Cloak]] or [[Battlemaster_Skill_Tree#Power_of_the_Battlemaster|Power of the BattlemasterInner Rage]]. (No passive Witch Doctor skills have yet been named.) Passive skills Traits 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 fans were using that term is still applicable to many of them in Diablo IIIas well, before the big traits switchover.
This issue was largely removed from the game when [[traits]] replaced passive skills, leaving only active skills in the skill trees.
Prior to this change, there was much player debate about how passives and actives would be balanced in the skill trees. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/Jay Wilson interview @ Diii.net]- IncGamers, October 2009</ref>
::'''''Diii.net: '''Based on playing those two characters and examining their trees, the Wizard has tons and tons of active attack skills and very few passives, while the Barbarian has an awful lot of defensive passives. Early on he didn’t have very many active skills. So fans were thinking we’d still see a lot of changes, and especially that the Wizard would be getting some more interesting passives.
==Skills Define Characters==
[[Image:Skill-tree-blizzcon09-monk-muldric.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Monk skill|Monk Skill Tree]] interpretation by [http://forums.diii.net/showthread.php?t=739038 Muldric].]]
D3 Lead Designer [[Jay Wilson]] discussed how skills drive game development, and vice versa, in a December 2008 interview with 1up.com. <ref>[http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=1&cId=3172030&p=1Jay Wilson interview @ 1up.com]. - December 2008</ref> The D3 team later coined the expression "[[signature skill]]s" to express this further. Skills that truly guides the rest of the development of a class.
::'''1UP: In creating this game, would you say that the character classes and their powers drive the rest of the game, or are their powers created as a result -- or solution -- to problems presented by the game?'''
Also on this topic, Jay Wilson spoke about how much planning the team puts into potential character builds. October 2009 interview: <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/Jay Wilson interview @ Diii.net]- October 2009</ref>
::'''''Diii.net: '''Do you guys work and plan in advance to plan multiple potential builds for each character? Or do you just throw in as many cool skills as you can and see how players find ways to use them?