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→Skill Trees
==Skill Trees==
New information as of May 2009 [http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/diablo-iii-skill-trees-innovative-overhaul/] indicates that the three-trees format is gone. There is now just one skill menu per each character, allowing players to pick from any of the many skills in each tree. This means there will be an overall decrease in skills, since many were largely redundant (adding damage for just skills in a given tree, for instance), and that players can now pick and choose almost exactly the skills they want from the total menu.
This is, of course, subject to further change as the development process grinds on.
===Earlier Info===
Prior to the huge skill array change announced in May 2009:
Skills in Diablo III are organized into skill trees. The form and function of these trees has evolved (and continues to do so) during development. Each character has three skill trees, and the game design (currently) favors specializing in one tree; a certain number of points are required to be spent in a tree before higher level skills become available, and the [[D3 Team]] is also experimenting with higher caps on certain skills, though what a character would do to enable this is unknown. It could be Clvl based, item based, points spent in a tree-based, or something else entirely.
Structurally the trees are similar to the skill trees found in World of Warcraft. They are displayed in tall rectangular boxes with lower level skills on top. The skills are arrayed on "tiers," each of which requires some amount of skill points spent in that tree to access. How many points and how many skills are on which tier is subject to ongoing change. New information as of May 2009[http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/diablo-iii-skill-trees-innovative-overhaul/] indicates that skills spent in any tree will count towards satisfying the tier 2 skill point requirement; a change meant to allow greater variety for low level characters.
* See the [[Skill tree]] page for many more details.
==Skill Caps==
Bashiok spoke to this issue in a forum post in May 2009. [http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/diablo-iii-skill-trees-innovative-overhaul/]
::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.
Blizzard has not given any word on how these increased skill caps would be enabled, whether by Clvl requirements, quests/in-game achievements, item bonuses, or something else. Like the other features, it's under construction and will change between now and the game's release.
==Skill Display==