Identify
Unidentified items are back in Diablo III, with Identify Scrolls a key item in the game, once again. These scrolls are found in the wild, and also sold by the blacksmith.
It's assumed that Deckard Cain will once again provide item identification in town. We know Cain is in the game and that he travels with the character from act to act, but his Identification services are not yet confirmed.
Magical items do not need to be identified in Diablo III. However, rare, set, and legendary items still require identification.
Diablo III Changes
Scrolls of ID now stack up, to save on inventory space. The maximum size of a stack is not yet known.
There also appear to be Tomes of Identify, though it's not clear what purpose these will serve, since scrolls can stack. Perhaps the Books hold far more scrolls than can be stacked by themselves?
Gameplay Tool
Identifiable items have been around since early days of pen and paper RPGs (and, ironically, there's a Diablo pen and paper RPG), where a player found loot they had to spend some resources to identify in order to make use of them. It created a level of realism that magical items found are mysterious. One of the good reasons to identify rather than just start using was the fact that weapons and items were not always benevolent, but could be cursed.
Diablo
Diablo I had this implemented in the shape that the player needed to buy Identify Scrolls or consult Deckard Cain in order to get treasure identified and Diablo II had just the same system.
Diablo III was initially set to not have Identify, as the team felt it added an unnecessary, "unfun" step." They changed their minds at some point during development though, and ID scrolls were back in force as of the August 2010 Gamescom demo.[1]
Lore
Any object imbued with magic exhibits an aura that is easily noticed. To determine the exact nature of this enchantment, however, requires intense study and an extensive knowledge of arcane materials and symbols.
It's extremely difficult to master the ability to memorize a spell of this magnitude but the Vizjerei mage clan have developed a means for the untrained to discover the secrets of an ensorcelled object by using a rare crystal that is extremely sensitive to magical auras.
This sensitivity makes it very fragile, however and the crystal will shatter if it is brought too close to an enchanted item. The very act of Identifying such an object also destroys the crystal. Scrolls and staves have been crafted and imbued with the spell that identify virtually any magical aura. By using special inks and dyes that contain tiny grains of these crystals, the stability of the crystal is maintained until it is used to examine the enchanted object.
References
| Items of Diablo III [e] Item Basics Normal Items Crafting Legendary Armor I Legendary Armor II Legendary Weapons 1h Legendary Weapons 2h Item Sets |
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