Now, Diablo is officially an RPG, so some degree of character personalization is expected. Not so, if you ask Bashiok, your (not so) favorite Blizzard community manager:
Official Blizzard Quote:
We’re focusing on customization through items as they can be seen better from how far away the camera is from the character.
OK, so no character customization except for items. I guess I can live with that, just promise me this will speed up development, so you’re ready for 2011 release!
I remember a game designer who said that a great fantasy game has a few mechanics (skills) that result in infinite combinations, like chess for example.
Diablo 3 is obviously taking the opposite approach: an infinite number of skills that accomplish the same thing – reduce mob’s HP.
Official Blizzard Quote:
Amount of skills in Diablo III, with all player runestone variants included, is currently topping 700…
It’s staggering really, even to me still. Those are all unique in their visuals too, which is important to note. Sure some of them may be simple color shifts but most of them are unique mechanics with completely unique visual effects. It’s crazy. Big up to our effects guys.
A Diablo 3 demo will be playable at Blizzcon 2010, so we’ll see if ALL 700 skills make sense.
Yet, they aren’t happy with it. Blizzard states:
Inventory management and the systems that surround it are something we’re obviously interested in, but not something that can really be tuned until we have more of the item game fleshed out and tuned itself. It’s hard to know exactly the best way to handle inventory management when the items, types, pickup frequency, and removal frequency can’t really be measured with any real accuracy.
I hope this doesn’t mean we get to play item tetris – as it was in Diablo 2 with different items taking different number of slots.
At the same time, Blizzard obviously don’t want to copy WoW’s inventory system. Or, Warhammer Online’s system of different bags filtering different item types. They want to make us THINK about which items we put in the inventory.
Remember the big discussion about Diablo 3 getting TOO SUNNY for a dark fantasy game? The fans had to re-do screenshots in Photoshop just to make their point that a darker Diablo is called for – no green fields.
In public Blizzard remained adamant about the art direction but since then they have let the Art Director go and lo and behold – the updated screenshots look very much LIKE Diablo 2!
Check out the desert screenshot below – I did some minor sharpening in Photoshop but I must say it looks like Act II (Lut Gholein). Mercifully, the green grass has been removed and the characters look dark and desperate!
My worst fears are being confirmed… Diablo 3 is again on the backburner when it comes to its release.
Blizzard have stated that TWO titles will be released in 2010. One of course, is Starcraft 2. Fair enough, it was announced a long time ago.
The other title due in 2010 is WoW Cataclysm. Blizzard needs to keep the money machine printing. I did freeze my account months ago and I suspect I’m not the only one.
Here’s the confirmation from Shacknews: “Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime has confirmed that just-revealed World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm and StarCraft II are the two titles the company expects to hit in 2010″.
However, Blizzard is known for its vague comments when it comes to monetization:
Are there any plans to monetize Battle.net 2.0 service? Mike Morhaime limited to answer: “I’m not ready to talk about that today”. Mike Morhaime confirmed that Battle.net 2.0 will be free to those who buy StarCraft 2 retail.
Of course, you need to remember that Starcraft 2 is coming out not in one but in THREE retails boxes (for a total of around $100). So even one measly box gets you into Battle.net 2.0 for life? I’ll take it.
Well, Diablo 3 takes center stage at this Blizzcon! The Barbarian is displayed prominently on the homepage (next to something green looking like a Starcraft II ghost).
OK, a few bullet points about Blizzcon 2009!
If you’re not able to attend, there’s the poor man’s Blizzcon - live Directv coverage for just $39.95. You do the murloc marine pet, so if you need a green/blue blob around you at all times, make sure you give your hard-earned cash to Blizzard.
Bill Roper is the producer of the original Diablo and Diablo II and he thinks that Diablo is a Gothic fantasy. He thinks the CLOWNs at Blizzard have took the game over and have repainted the graphics in their favorite cartoony colors.
I think that one of the things that we always tried to get across was that Diablo was Gothic fantasy and I think there was just a need that was put in there from the visuals that I didn’t necessarily get. I got it from the architecture and to a degree from the character design but not the feeling of the world. I can’t say that I dislike it. I didn’t look at it and go, oh my God that’s horrible. But I looked at it and went, it’s not really… to me as a player it just didn’t really ring with Diablo.
Admittedly, it could be that Bill Roper is bitter about the dismal failure of the Hellgate: London project. Frankly, though, I agree with him - we need MORE blood and guts and dark horrors, not LESS.
