Diablo II Patch 1.13 released

Patch 1.13

A new Mystery has been revealed!
- Players of Hell Difficulty Realm games are hereby warned once again,
that a series of new and challenging tests await you! The answer lies
within Diablo's Bosses, which span across the world from the Den of Evil
to the Throne of Destruction...


Major Bugs
- Fixed an item dupe bug.
- Video improvements for Intel Mac machines with OS 10.5 or greater.


Minor Bugs
- Uber Mephisto now checks for both Uber Baal and Uber Diablo to be killed before spawning summoned minions (Before he would only check for Uber Baal).
- The game will no longer stop and then restart the game music after the window loses and then regains focus.
- Fixed an issue where the game window would minimize when running in windowed mode when it lost focus.
- Fixed an issue where the game window wouldn't center properly when it was created.


Specific changes/improvements
- Respecialization is now possible! Completing the 'Den of Evil' quest will now additionally reward 1 free respec which can be saved. Players who have already completed this quest should receive 1 free respec in Hell difficulty.
- Increased the drop rate of high runes.
- Support for blit scaling in windowed mode. The game can now be maximized to the largest 4:3 resolution supported (hooray widescreen users).
- Some rare drop items now have an orange color. i.e. Runes and items required for Uber Tristam.
- Modified the gold bank limit to be a flat cap not bound by level.
- Nightmare/Hell WilloWisps champions/uniques have had their damage greatly reduced.
- Removed the requirements to create a hardcore character.
- Greatly reduced the explosion damage dealt by Fire Enchanted monsters.
- Uber Mephisto and Uber Baal's summoned minions no longer give experience.
- Removed Oblivion Knight's Iron Maiden curse.
- Hellfire Torch Firestorm proc rate has been reduced to 5%.
- Users can now toggle the display of text over the Health and Mana globes by clicking on the bottom area of each orb.
- Updated two Act 5 mercenary names to Klar and Tryneus.
- When creating a single player game, pressing the 'Enter' key now automatically creates a Hell difficulty game if possible.
- When creating a game, each difficulty button is now bound to a unique key: Normal 'R', Nightmare 'N', and Hell 'H'.
- The 'Enter Chat' Button in the battle.net waiting room is now bound to the 'Enter' key.
- Added the windows system buttons to the game window (MIN, MAX, CLOSE).
- Added new command line parameter '-nofixaspect' which allows users to not fix the aspect ratio to 4:3 when maximizing windowed mode. This lets the game 'stretch' to fill your monitor.
- Added support for '-sndbkg' command line switch. This enables sound in background.
- Added support for '-nosound', '-window', and '-windowed' command line options.


Revised Skill balance for Player Character classes

Amazon
-Immolation Arrow - Increased radius of Explosion effect by 33% and Immolation effect by 50%.
-Immolation Arrow - Explosion effect damage increased by 20%.
-Immolation Arrow - Increased base duration by 33%.


Assassin
-Shadow Master - Increased resistance range per point from 5-80 to 5-90.


Barbarian
-Whirlwind - Reduced initial mana cost by 50%.
-Masteries - Changed critical strike chance from 0-25 to 0-35.


Paladin
-Blessed Hammer - No longer ignores resistances of undead and demons.


Druid
-Werebear - Damage bonus increased by 15% across all ranks.
-Werebear - Increased health by 25% and armor by 1% per point.
-Shockwave - Synergy from Maul adds 5% damage per point.


Necromancer
-Blood Golem - Removed negative shared life effect (player no longer loses life when golem takes damage).
-Corpse Explosion - Increased base damage dealt from 60% - 100% to 70% - 120% of corpses health.
-Poison Nova - Increased base damage by 15%.


Sorceress
-Firewall - Synergy receives 1% damage per point of Inferno and Blaze and 4% per point of Warmth.
-Blaze - Synergy receives 2% damage per point of Firewall and 4% per point of Warmth.
-Hydra - Increased base damage by 15% per rank.
-Hydra - Increased base speed of Hydra projectile.
-Hydra - Reduced cooldown by 25%.
-Lightning Mastery - Reduced overall effect by 15%.

Auras to Return in Diablo III?

There was recently an interview with Jay Wilson  regarding the Monk and his as-of-yet unrevealed skills, as well as some other paradoxes that might not have been anticipated.

Official Blizzard Quote:

Most of the Monks skills will focus on combat skills and attacks, along with his various escape skills. And we talked at Blizzcon that we`re likely to put some defensive and supportive abilities on him. Possibly Auras. We`ve not done the next round of skills on him yet so we`re not exactly sure.

The idea of auras returning in Diablo III from Diablo II (whose Paladin used them excessively and exclusively) has sparked some conversation and controversy on our very site, raising concerns about their distribution among the Diablo III characters, as opposed to the solitary character distribution in Diablo II, to their functionality being unchecked. If they will function exactly the same in Diablo III has yet to be announced, but since there's only so many ways you can possibly have them, it is most likely that they will be very similar.

In spite of the previous claims of some Blizzard representatives about not having a single support character, however, things are starting to look like a bit of change is on the horizon:

Official Blizzard Quote:

We definitely want to do that with one class. Whether or not it`s the Monk hasn`t yet been decided. The Monk does seem to be the logical choice. The only reason we might not do with him is that he`s too logical.

And, of course, they are absolutely right. Fans have been anticipating this for some time since this character is so obviously related to the Paladin of Diablo II, who functioned in a very similar way. But, is this too predictable for the game? Should we be seeing something more original and less archetypical in Diablo III?

When asked specifically about the Monk's armor type, since it has been heavily discussed that it would not be normal for the Monk to be using heavy armor, Wilson responded with an echo from Diablo's past, where all characters were able to wear any kind of armor regardless of their class:

Official Blizzard Quote:

We`re an item based game. The idea of a character that doesn`t use items is foreign to our basic game philosophy. So one of the things we decided when we were creating the Monk was that we were not going to explore that aspect of the character. We`re going to make a Diablo Monk, and the Diablo Monk uses items.

Is this hold-off from Diablo II a good idea? Although the equipment will not physically appear heavy:

Official Blizzard Quote:

[...]the Monks armor isn`t going to look like heavy plate armor. It`s going to look like a shirt, what our imagination of what the Monks armor could be. It`s definitely going to be equipment, but he`s not going to look like he`s covered in metal[...]

The interview also hinted passingly at the possibility of the Monk being able to dual-wield fist weapons, much like the Assassin of Diablo II, and the possibility of the Monk's tattoos developing through the story line, which Wilson said "[they are] tied to the story arcs we create for the game."

Female Monk to be revealed later

Many fans wondered why the female Monk was not available in the Diablo III demo at Blizzcon 2009. There have been a few speculations that there would be only a monk male. We do know that a female monk was planned. Ever since Diablo III was announced the developers said there would be two genders per class, but Jay Wilson reinstated what was obvious and confirmed at the press-only Q&A in room 208a that there would be a female monk.

At that point they were still discussing how they would handle her. The monk is bald, so one of the questions among the team was if the female monk would be bald. The night after the Monk class announcement, Flux and I were talking a bit about the monk class, and he laughed while joking ... how’s the female monk going to be called? A nun?

Next day at the press-only Q&A, I asked the same to Jay Wilson, is the female monk going to be known as the Nun?. The whole room laughed.

Don’t worry guys. The female monk will be unveiled at some point. It’s not just a matter of putting together a model and some textures. There is much more to it. Months of work. Bashiok mentions some of the process to create a custom female class. The female monk was not ready for the demo, thus we only saw the male Monk.

Blizzard quote:

- It requires a new model and new texture. And our class models/textures are very carefully crafted. 
- It requires a new rigging and all new animations. Everything from idle animations to a complex skill to how they hold a sword. 
- It requires custom armor sets and alterations to fit weapons and other item types. 
- Skills may be the same in general appearance but all of them have to be altered or customized in some way to fit each gender. Sometimes dramatically. 
- Every gender requires it’s own voice actor and full dialogue recording.

Those could potentially sound trivial until you realize that any one of those things would be weeks to months of work. In some cases the work never stops on ensuring things adapt to fit all classes, and then separately each gender.

To answer the OP, the only big question I think we ever had on creating genders for all classes was how to best handle the female monk. And that’s been solved.

Diablo 3 news on Twitter

Twitter is a free social networking service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. The site is ranked as one of the 50 most popular websites worldwide by Alexa's web traffic analysis.

You can check the latest Diablo 3 news there. You just need to be my follower, here`s my Twitter - http://twitter.com/xXxTheMasteR

Diablo 3 - Witch Doctor Voodoo Skills Detailed

Blizzard moved some cool skills to this tree in the latest build, and now has both Skull of Flame and Firebats in it. I don't think anyone cares that the other very cool Zombie Wall was moved as it all makes much more sense now! Signature skills should be treated right, and now it seems more like a proper witch doctor.


Voodoo Skill Tree

The Voodoo skill tree comprises most of the Witch Doctor's offensive skills, in addition to a few summoning skills.

Tier I 
Skull of Flame - Lob a skull filled with fire dealing 4-5 fire damage to all enemies caught in the explosion.
Jungle Fortitude - Increase your Vitality by 5% of your Strength, 5% of your Dexterity, and 5% of your Willpower.
Tier II 
Hex - Summon a Fetish caster to cast hexes on enemies for 6 seconds.
Corpse Spiders Summon 3 spiders to attack nearby enemies for 8-13 poison damage per hit.
Tier III 
Locust Swarm - Assault nearby foes with a swarm of locusts that spread to additional, nearby targets.
Plague of Toads - Release a handful of toads that deal poison damage to anybody who steps on them.
Tier IV 
Pit of Fire - Call up to 4 Fetishes to bathe a region in fire.
Firebats - Launch a swarm of bats, saturated in a fiery blaze to burn targeted enemies.
Tier V 
Acid Cloud - Detonate a bottle of acid in the air to damage enemies with the initial explosion and, over time for enemies who remain in it's area of effect.
Blood Rites - Increase your spell damage by consuming health globes.
Tier VI 
Fetish Army - Summon an army of Fetishes to fight by your side.

Diablo 3 Monk Skill Trees

Diablo 3 Monk Skill Trees is ready for presentation, there is currently 8 known monk skills from BlizzCon 2009.

Monk Skill Tree I

Tier 1 
None yet

Tier 2
Force Without Thought
Passive skill
Rank: 1/5.

Description: Counteract enemies without interrupting the normal flow of your attacks. When you dodge you automatically counter act the attacker for 10% of your normal weapon damage.

Tier 3
Seven Sided Strike
Mana cost: 30
Rank: 1/5.

Description: Dash at your enemies, striking six times in succession for 50% of your weapon damage.

Tier 4
Inner Sanctuary
Mana cost: 24
Rank: 1/5

Description: Creates a protected region on the ground for 6 seconds that can not be bypassed by enemies.

Way of the Hundred Fists
Rank: 1/5
First hit: A short range dashing attack that deals 100% weapon damage.
Second hit: Attack rapidly 6 times for 8% of weapon damage.
Third hit: Attack all enemies near the monk for 85% of weapon damage.

Monk Skill Tree II

Tier 1
Crippling Wave
Combo skill. Light attacks that apply a series of increasingly debilitating debuffs.
Rank: 1
First hit: Deals 50% of weapon damage. Enemy movement speed reduced 50% for 2 seconds.
Second hit: Deals 50% weapon damage. Enemy damage reduced 25% and they take 25% more damage from attacks.
Third hit: Deals 60% weapon damage. Debuffs refreshed on all targets.

Tier 2
Exploding Palm
Combo Skill. A quick succession of attacks ending with the deadly Exploding Palm.
Rank: 1/5
First hit: 35% of weapon damage.
Second hit: 50% of weapon damage.
Third hit: Target bleeds for 60 damage over 7 seconds. Moving causes 200% more bleeding damage. If target dies it explodes dealing 60-100% of its maximum life in damage to all enemies nearby.

Monk Skill Tree III

Tier 1
Impenetrable Defense
Mana cost: 5
Rank: 1/1
Description: Momentarily turn your weapons into an impenetrable wall that rebounds enemy ranged attacks and grants 100% dodge against weapon attacks.

Tier 2
Radiant Visage
Mana cost: 15
Rank: 1/5
Description: A flash of light sears the eyes of all enemies within 20 feet, blinding them for 2-4 seconds. If attacked they will fight back with a 40% reduced chance to hit.

Blizzard on Binding Items in Diablo 3.

A Blizzard announcer provided some nice details in the Battle.net forums on the subject of binding items (both "bind on equip" and "bind on pickup") to your characters in Diablo 3. Here's what he had to say:

"Yes, true, as Jay said at BlizzCon we are planning to have some amount of items that will bind to a character upon equipping them.

We absolutely won't have items that bind when picked up, except for the obvious things like quest items and other character-specific items that wouldn't/shouldn't be tradable anyway.

That alone, I think, should dissuade the most severe concerns with binding items. And before I go on just understand that while a lot of this is very stable in its concepts, the details aren't final.

For Bind on Equip (BoE), the idea right now is that it would only be applied to "end game" items of specific quality levels. So to start, it's not every item, and it's not even every item above a certain level. For the BoE items that will exist, you can pick them up, if you don't want it you can still trade it, or give it to another character, a friend, vendor it, whatever you like. But, if you make the commitment to keeping the item and equipping it, yes, it's yours now.

The reasoning is that in reality we need a solid way to keep the economy stable at the end game. With items building up over a potentially infinite amount of time there's no way to have any measure of control over worth of items. While an item may be the rarest and best in the game, over four or five years a stockpile has built up and those items are now commonplace and hold little value as compared to their rarity. The gold being earned by players stays the same or likely increases as players become more proficient at playing the game while they spend less as items lose their value. Gold value drops, and we're skirting into a familiar cycle.

By ensuring we can rely on some amount of "consumption" of items, their relative worth stays high, the market is predictable and both sellers and buyers enjoy a stable marketplace for (hopefully) many years.

Diablo II has an inconsistent approach which is the somewhat stable Ladder economy, since it's quite literally flushed out every so often. But it's a very intrusive approach to a problem that could be solved through other means that don't require making everyone start over.

As a quasi-aside: There's an idea being thrown around, and this is really not guaranteed in any way, that some or potentially all items that are bound to you could be bound to your entire account. So if you yourself "own" an item from it being bound, you can trade it between all the characters on your account freely. Feed alts your old-but-still-very-nice items, etc. That's just an idea, it may not take shape, but it's a possibility."

Blizzard explains Monk Class Not From 'Hellfire'

A user on the Battle.net forums recently asked Bashiok why Blizzard introduced the Monk class when they had said no additional old character classes would be returning as playable in Diablo 3. He was, of course, speaking of Diablo Hellfire when he brought this up and here's what Bashiok had to say in response:

Quote:

"It's not a recognized part of the Diablo franchise, and to be honest it is so much so not recognized, that when people asked about returning classes in the Q&A's and in some of the press interviews the Hellfire expansion just wasn't in anyone's minds.

Plus, it isn't the same class. We aren't taking an old class and updating it. The monk from Hellfire, and in fact the story and content of Hellfire, doesn't exist as far as game lore and story is concerned going into Diablo III.

They happen to share a name, the same as all of the other monk classes that have existed in all other RPG's since the beginning of time. It doesn't mean they're related kit/story/flavor wise."

Having played the Monk class quite extensively at BlizzCon, I can definitely assure you all that he's something totally new. It's actually painful not being able to play the game again right now. You have no idea how badly I want to destroy some more enemies with skills such as "The Way of 100 Fists". That character is simply too much fun.

New Diablo 3 class – Monk

The Monk is the Fourth Class in Diablo 3, He is a light armored, fast hitting melee fighter, utilizing Martial Arts and Light magic. His Combat Style is unique and based on Fighting Games.

Background

The male Monk character comes from the Monasteries of Ivgorod in the Foothills. They are taken into the Monastery at a young age, where they are taught ancient knowledge, belief in 1001 gods that are in everything (one god in water, one god in fire, one god in the air, etc.), meditation to remove sins from the body and martial arts. The Monks have a fondness of structure and creativity, which is why they have various symbols on their bodies and their light magic is brought to life through runes, symbols that invoke the light to aid them. It is said that each Monk has a tattoo on his back, that chronicles their lifetime/adventures (needs confirmation), it may take a monk an entire lifetime to finish the tattoo on his back. 

He serves the Elder Monks of the monastery, who seek to destroy evil in all forms. 

The "theme" of the Society of Monks is a mix of "spiritual" Buddhism and "eradication of evil" of the European churches while maintaining an Asian/Indian visual theme. Abd al-Hazir writes about an encounter with a Monk in a tavern, in his thirty second entry of the Writings of Abd al-Hazir.

Class Design

The Monk thinks of himself as the weapon of the gods against all that is evil, he is a peaceful, patient and a good man who aids people who suffer, with no hatred against anyone, in contrast to the Barbarian. He is adept in Martial Arts, being able to defeat multiple foes without the aid of weapons.

Monk Gameplay Video:

New Diablo 3 Character Class Announced: The Monk

The screenshot came from a Korean-language version of the Diablo 3 site.

Diablo 3 Fact Sheet @ GamesCom 2009

Diablo 3 Fact Sheet is a collection of new stuff found at Diablo 3 GamesCom 2009.

Classes
Still only Barbarian, WitchDoctor and Wizard is available for play at GamesCom 2009 Diablo 3 Demo.

New Diablo III information discovered under GamesCom 2009.

Weather
Stunning weather effects such as rain, dust wind give an amazing atmosphere to Diablo 3 gameplay.

Kill-Combo
Is a very cool Diablo 3 feature, if you kill a serial of monsters you get kill-combo bonus XP. Its graphic displayed right-bottom of the screen and give you a feeling of totally ownage.

Traps
There is all kind of traps similar to Diablo 2, when you open chests, levers and shelves. Different effects can hit you with freeze or damage.

Shrines
Shrines are back similar to Diablo 2, 3 types of shrines was found.

Multiplayer Demo
Under the Diablo 3 GamesCom demo you could play up to two people in the game, the game should support up to 4 players currently. (from known info)

Locations
New location at deserts of Lut Gholein where you go deep into Sundered Pass, and into Catacombs dungeon. An area also discovered called Asheara which is from D2 act 3, and the town of Alcarnus is available.

Monster / AI
All monsters seem to have unique behaviors and AI, so they act differently and have it own sets of abilities.

The monsters list including of:

Dune Thresher,Dune Dervish, Spirits, Frozen Mage, Lacuni Huntress, Enraged Sand Wasps, Skeleton Warriors, Tomb Viper and Warrior Lacuni.

Magic Effects
Absolutely stunning, this give a whole new experience to the game, when you make “Ground Stomp” the earth crack and screen the shakes. Also buildings is interactive, so you can destroy walls and interact with the game.

Luck Stats
What it means is yet to find out, its probaply a replacement of Diablo 2 Magic Find skill.

Stats
The main attributes:
- Strength (physical attack power)
- Agility (dodge, critical hit chance),
- Vitality (energy of life and regeneration)
- Spirit (spell damage and, mana)

Also there is DPS, Defense and Resistance stats info like in Diablo 2.

Gameplay
Gameplay is extremely fast & organic, you can run and slide away from spells and abilities, you have to be fast & strategic. Strategy is absolutely the key to survive and how you want to approach monsters.

You can hotkey up to 5 skills/abilities which you can use on your keyboard (1-5)

Lots of health orbs was dropping that helped you keeping alive.

User Interface (UI)
The UI is very nice and smooth, you can setup, sound volume, graphic interface such as resolution etc and keyboard option where you can setup hotkey for skills, open paperdoll, skill trees etc. Also the UI very easy to use and somehow a mixture of Diablo 2 and WoW that is tweaked with nice tooltips and usability.

Graphics
The graphic is very amazing, there is alot of effects and details from corpse decay, monster effects, spell effects and ground effects. (Watch Gameplay Videoes) Beside that the game runs very smoothly.

Quests
You get different kind of quests from NPC’s such as killing quests, find a person etc, which is similar to WoW Quest system. Moreover it include speech system, where can play, pause and stop the speech. There is also a tooltip on currently quest objectives your doing.

Example of Husam Quest:
The demo offered a few side quests on our way to Alcarnus. We ran into a “Crazed Miner,” who offered us the quest, “A Miner’s Gold.” All we had to do was defend the miner while he raised a treasure chest via a pulley system. When he started, swarms of Fallen came after him. If we were successful in defending the miner from the swarm, we’d get half the gold. It really wasn’t a challenge for the Barbarian, as Ground Stomp made that defense quest a simple task.

Skill Trees
The skill trees work very similar to World of Warcraft where you spend 5 points and next level of skills is opened up.The only different here is you get access to all 3 skill trees at the same time, so you are not forced to one skill tree. Skill trees also opens for new active abilities and some passive abilities that acts like bonuses of active skills. The rune skill system is not implemented yet.

Items
When you mouseover an item – that dropped on the ground, it compares it with your currently wearing item, this way you can instantly see if you want to loot it. Gold is also auto pickup.

Bags
There are bags (containers) found up to 28 slots, where you can put items, the system works similar to World of Warcraft bags system, it just increased in size.

Play Diablo 3 in Germany @ Gamescom

Blizzard more or less confirmed this last month, but now it’s official. Diablo 3 will be playable for attendees at the German Gamescom convention next week. This year’s Gamescom runs from the 20-23rd, in Cologne, Germany.

Diablo II Patch 1.13 Release @ BlizzCon 2009

Rumors tells that it will be perfect sense to let people download Diablo 2 patch 1.13 & released at BlizzCon 2009.
Why release the Diablo 2 1.13 patch at BlizzCon 2009:

• At BlizzCon 2009 Blizzard will announce all there major news including Diablo 2 patch 1.13
• Blizzard hold back the patch 1.13 download for big news so it gets more attention
• As updated 7/20 the patch is just around the corner
• It’s Blizzard and they want to release a perfect 1.13 Diablo 2 patch

Quote from Blizzard:

We’re preparing for a Diablo II ladder reset to coincide with the release of the 1.13 patch that’s currently in development. We don’t have a final release date for the patch yet, but we’re providing early warning as a reset could occur as early as the end of April. We’ll be providing updates with more certain dates once the patch is closer to release.

Please be aware that with a ladder reset all ladder characters are moved to non-ladder. This means that your characters will still be accessible but will no longer have access to ladder-only features and games. In order to play in the new ladder season after the reset you will need to make new ladder characters.

This thread will be updated with more information as it becomes available.

Update - 7/20

As stated in the “Myth” thread (http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=18031060417&sid=3000) we’re still working toward releasing the Warcraft III patch currently in testing on our Westfall Public Test Realm. Testing is looking good on the Warcraft III patch though and once it’s released focus will go to the Diablo II 1.13 patch.

The 1.13 patch is very far along so it should only be a limited amount of testing before it hits the Westfall PTR. Still, any number of issues could delay a release so any dates or estimates for release won’t be made available.

A forum is now available for discussing the PTR and patch and will continue to be available for posting feedback and bug reports once the patch actually goes live. This is to ideally keep the other Diablo II forums dedicated to current game discussion. Any threads discussing the 1.13 patch/PTR/etc. will be moved to the Test Realm forum, or deleted.

http://forums.battle.net/board.html?forumId=20601702&sid=3000

We`ll be playing Diablo 3 next month?

Blizzard will be sending some crew and playable game demos to the Gamescom 2009 convention in Cologne, German, from August 20-23. Here’s the official announcement:

We’re pleased to announce that Blizzard Entertainment will be attending gamescom 2009 in Cologne, Germany next month. We look forward to welcoming old friends and new to our booth, which will feature hands-on gameplay with our upcoming games. Our booth is open to the public from Thursday 20 August until Sunday 23 August.


We will be revealing more information on our activities during the show in the coming weeks. You can find out more about what gamescom has to offer, and how to get there, at http://www.gamescom-cologne.com/

Our recruiters will be at the booth ready to answer your questions about recruitment and working at Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard Europe currently has numerous open positions in quality assurance, localization, customer support and other departments in our offices in Velizy, France (near Paris) and Cork, Ireland. We’re looking for Italian, Polish, Russian, German, French, Spanish and English speakers. Bring your CV along and talk to us about our employment opportunities. http://eu.blizzard.com/en/jobs/

The Archangel Imperius - another Boss in Diablo 3?

The Archangel Imperius is a member of the Angiris Council. He is possibly the Archangel of War.

Imperius is described as a majestic Angel wearing long flowing red robes. His characteristic feature is a breastplate carrying the insignia of a blazing upturned sword on it. These descriptions are mentioned in the book The Veiled Prophet from The Sin War series. 

At the end of the Sin War, once Angel Inarius had been defeated by Uldyssian, and Uldyssian in turn sacrificed to save Sanctuary, Archangel Auriel summoned Mendeln, Serenthia and Rathma into the Silver City to witness the judgement imparted by the Angiris Council. 


Archangel Imperius was the first to talk. He declared what Angel Inarius had created had to be destroyed: Sanctuary and its inhabitants. Imperius proposed to the other four members of the Angiris Council that the renegade angel Inarius should be imprisoned for eternity and his nest of demonspawn children: the edyrem and nephalem, destroyed. 


Imperius stretched a gloved fist forward and turned it downwards as a sign of doom for the world of Sanctuary as the first vote in the collective poll of the Angirls Council. In the end, there was only one vote favoring the destruction of Sanctuary, one abstain vote, and three votes against. With bitterness, Archangel Imperius declared Sanctuary's survival.

Rumour 

Look at the blazing angel in this Diablo III concept art shown at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals. I believe, that this is Archangel Imperius because of the sword upon the breastplate. This is surely an archangel and following the Diablo story it must be Imperius. 

Please comment!

Diablo 3 fourth class soon?

With BlizzCon ‘09 coming next month, you don’t have to be a genius to tell that Blizzard will have to make some kind of Diablo 3 announcement.

My count of the rumors regarding the fourth class can be boiled down to two:

Ranged character – the parallel is to the rogue in the Diablo I and the Amazon in Diablo 2
Knight – similar to the Warrior in Diablo and the Paladin in Diablo 2

Believe it or not, there’s speculation that the Knight is out of the question for Diablo 3 and that Blizzard would like to introduce a truly unique character, like … a Vampire!

I think it will be ranged character, could be called Ranger or Hunter. A pet is NOT out of the question, though that could be my WoW Hunter talking!

User Interface in Diablo 3

The UI is generally the same as its predecessor, besides the graphical upgrades, and will be very familiar to Diablo II players. However, there are some differences. The health and mana globes have moved more toward the center, rather than being all the way in the corners. The stamina bar has dissappeared. The experience bar is now at the bottom of the screen spanning the distance from the health globe to the mana globe. The UI is almost definitely not finalized so although it will probably resemble what we have seen so far, it is certainly due to change. 

Skill Bar

Above the experience bar, where the stamina bar, experience bar, and potion belt used to be, are where the skill and scroll slots are. There are four slots for keyboard activated skills, associated with the 1-4 number keys. They are followed by two scroll slots associated with the 5 and 6 number keys. Lastly on the skill bar are the mouse skills. There is a primary for the left mouse button and a secondary for the right mouse button. The secondary can be quickly switched back and forth with another skill by scrolling the mouse. The mini menu returns from Diablo II, but it does not appear to be collapsible. 

Buffs

Buffs and debuffs are now displayed on the HUD. They are located in the very bottom left hand corner of the screen and are represented with pictures similar to the skills in the skill bar. 

Mini Map

There is now a mini map displayed on the top of the right hand side of the screen. This replaces the translucent map overlay that was present in Diablo II. Your character is represented by a yellow circle. Allies, which include mercenaries and pets, are represented by purple circles. Orange circles indicate NPCs. Text displaying the current location is directly above the map. 

Inventory

The current build of Diablo III drops the old, grid based inventory system in favor of a new bag system. The player has three bags, one each for small, large and quest items that are represented as tabs in the inventory page. Each bag starts out with a limited number of slots but can be upgraded by the player, helping eliminate the need for the player to continually keep going back to town to deposit their items.

Skill Tree

The skill tree now uses illustrative icons similar to World of Warcraft. According to Blizzard, the coloured icons make it easier for the player to differentiate from the greater number of skills available in Diablo III as compared to the first two games.

Mini Combat Log

Things such as the damage you cause when you get a critical hit and when you block an attack with your shield will be displayed with small text that appears above enemies' heads. The text moves upward and quickly fades away. 

Enemy Health

Unlike Diablo II, enemies' health bars now appear directly above enemies heads instead of at the top of the screen. However, for Super Uniques and Bosses, there will be a separate health bar on top of the screen, staying there regardless of the location of the mouse until the enemy is destroyed.

Elixirs

Elixirs have been seen in the game as well, while in Diablo I they would give stat bonuses, there has been no official statement as to what functions they serve. However, it appears that they provide stat bonuses here as well, judging from the names matching with the types of stats in Diablo III. 
Elixir of Willpower I 
Elixir Of Vitality I 


Gems

Gems make a reappearance, and it appears that there is another type of categories of gems than their power levels (chipped, flawed, etc): prefixes such as square and star have been spotted. What they signify in item value and function is currently unknown.

Runes

Like in Diablo II, Diablo III has Runes, but they are completely different from their Diablo II counterparts. They now give bonuses to skills instead of items. 

Diablo 3 beta map

For those of us impatient enough, a Diablo 3 custom map has been released.

You need Warcraft III in order to play it and the map is still in beta. However, I’m really amazed at the graphics – the world editor is indeed powerful enough to change the game completely. It does look like Diablo 3!

 Download Diablo 3 beta map

Diablo III Gunslinger class?

A fan brought up a concern about Diablo III weapons in the official forums, whether if Blizzard would bring back weapons from previous games. The Diablo III Gameplay Video shown at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals and BlizzCon 2008 showed axes, mauls, staffs, wands, and a throwing knife. Bashiok answered in a very jokingly manner. Or was he? It must have been a joke. Or was it half a joke, with some truth? Mind games. I tell ya. Mark Waid is evil, but Bashiok is far more.

Speculation-mode on: Would you dig a new Diablo III Gunslinger class? The way I would imagine it—in a Diablo III-esque way that is—would be like Van Helsing with all his bizarre weaponry built up from both science and magic. Van Helsing meets Gnome/Goblin tech, Indiana Jones and Vizjerei spellwork. Would that be appealing at all as a new class? Share your thoughts.

  Blizzard Quote:  
 Cold-Plasma Laser Rifles, and also ones that can hold more ammo than the normal one. 
  

Cold-Plasma Laser Rifles don’t look too Diablo-esque, but a wooden shotgun shooting magical fireballs, or frostbolts would look cool. Boomerangs hitting multiple targets and stunning them for 3 seconds. Laying traps that freeze or explode upon mobs chasing you. A Chainsaw. Guns that shoot a hook attached to a cord to reach high areas or to swing across broken bridges. Crossbows with explosive arrows. A magical-imbued hammer that cracks thunderbolts on every direction when hitting the ground. Now that’s the stuff.

Monsters in Diablo 3 - The Activated Vessel

Activated Vessels are human cultists that have let themselves be overtaken by a demonic presence, distorting them to a dangerous vaguely human-looking creature of great power. Activated Vessels are demons. 

These creatures are what Dark Vessels transform into, if they successfully summon a demon into their own bodies. Activated Vessels are mutated, half-demonic things who fight furiously and move very quickly. It's a good idea to kill off the Dark Vessels before they can activate, if at all possible.

Activated vessels have impressive death animations, standing still, shaking, and then shooting out embers of red light, like parts of the demon dispelling into the air.

The spikes that pokes out of their backs are called "Teeth of Diablo", and are indeed a metal spike inserted into the flesh of the willing recipient. The spike does not seem to cause internal haemorrhaging but instead some sort of perverse corruption of both soul and body.

Diablo 3 fits on Consoles

Why the Diablo 3 fits on consoles comes into play is one big feature revealed by the Diablo 3 developers.

The Diablo 3 fits into consoles because Blizzard has done very innovative UI development and tailored Diablo 3 so its fits both to PC and Console input devices.

Introduction:
This background article explains why Diablo 3 fits into consoles.
We have been doing research on how its possible to convert Diablo III inputs to console devices and how its possible to play Diablo 3 on consoles. 

Joypad:
The Consoles Joypad is the key element that makes it possible to control movement, character, menus, etc. inside Diablo 3. 

Joystick:
Joystick is what found left of side of the joypad and which make it possible control the Diablo 3 character movements.

Joypad Keys: 
Joypad’s 4 keys found on the right side of the joypad, which will control the “hotkey” bar in Diablo 3. There is also 2-4 keys in the upperside of the joypad which can contol other Diablo 3 features. (such as 2 extra secondary hot-keys)

Here is the thing, Diablo 3 use 6 hot-keys insteed of 10 hotkeys usually used from PC games (f1-f10). Therefore it is possible to control Diablo 3 with joypad keys.

HOTBAR: Bottom of the picture describes that there is 4 main hot-keys abilities and 2 for others purposes.

Easy loot system:
The Diablo III developers has made it easy to pick-up (loot) item by just move over them (potions and items), which makes it easy to consoles. It might also make sense why Blizzard removed the potions ’shug’ feature from Diablo 3. (a Diablo 2 feature that gave you endless life by constantly drinking potions).

Controlling spells and abilities:
The direction of spells in Diablo 3 can be controlled by the secondary joypad joystick. 

Menu Options:
The menu system can be accessed from the “options/start” key on the joypad. 

Inventory:
The Diablo 3 inventory system can be easily controlled by the jaypads joystick and hotkeys, as we have seen this feature from previously games.

Mouse/Keyboard:
The game can be played without a mouse and only via a Joypad. There is also no need to have a keyboard to play Diablo 3. 

Why Diablo 3 on Consoles?
From a Blizzard developer: Diablo 3 is the game that fits best of all Blizzard games, so it would make sense to implement Diablo 3 to consoles.  

Diablo 3 - Just Fit:
Because Diablo 3 is very fast phased game, which most console games is, it fits well in this category of games.

Blizzard President Suggests Diablo 3 May Come to Console:
Mike Morhaime says there’s “a pretty good argument” Diablo 3 may work on 360 or PS3. 

There’s yet to be any official confirmation that the upcoming Diablo 3 will be released on anything other than the PC, but according to recent comments made by Blizzard president Mike Morhaime, it certainly seems like they’re strongly considering console versions of the highly anticipated sequel at some point in the future.“Every game we have the discussion about which platforms make the most sense,” said Morhaime in an interview with Shacknews at BlizzCon. “As Diablo 3 takes shape, I think we’ll do an evaluation. I think there is a pretty good argument to be made that that type of game might work very well on consoles. There might be some technical limitations though that we might need to get past.”

Backing up Morhaime’s comments were those made by Diablo 3 director Jay Wilson, who also thinks console versions of Diablo 3 could work well. “We haven’t really decided to take the [console] plunge,” Wilson said. “We’ve really come to the conclusion that Diablo 3 is probably the best fit because the control scheme is actually not that incompatible. So if we were to make that decision, Diablo would be the natural choice.”

What Blizzard won’t do, however, is do a quick and dirty port. “If we did it, we would want to do a really high quality version — we wouldn’t just want to do a port,” Wilson said. “We would never make that decision if we thought we had to compromise the overall quality…we could probably do it at any time, we could release the game and then decide we wanted to do an Xbox 360 version or a PlayStation 3 version.”

Seeing a console version of Diablo 3 down the line wouldn’t be unprecedented — the original Diablo eventually received a port on the PlayStation, and there have been countless action RPGs in the Diablo mold released on consoles as well (Phantasy Star Online comes to mind). And that was back in the Dark Ages when online gameplay on consoles was mostly unheard of. 

Supported by Rob Padro VP, Blizzard Entertainment:
“I’d love to see what you guys do with the Wii,” to which the Blizzard exec smiled and raised his eyebrows, but stayed silent.

Blizzard Hire Console Xbox specilist:
Blizzard has hired a top POP Games, XBox live specilist .

Blizzard’s employee Bob Colayco said that Greg Canessa a PopCap Games/ Xbox Live Arcade) has joined Blizzard to work on the new Battle.net 2.0

Blizzard talk on Consoles at GDC
Speaking at a GDC luncheon with several game industry luminaries, Blizzard’s game design EVP Rob Pardo said that Sony and Microsoft need to “come up with new forms of gameplay and new mechanics.”

Suggesting that the two companies should look to Nintendo and work on improving their input devices, he said, “If [Sony and Microsoft] don’t come up with a way to come up with new forms of gameplay and new mechanics, than there is no point in giving us new hardware, because then it’s just about cloud computing.”

“This is going to make or break console companies this time around,” Acclaim’s David Perry added. “I’m not aware they’re really putting a big amount of effort into finding out what the people who are making the games want.”

Junction Point’s Warren Spector speculated, “I think they’re so focused on the all-in-one device…I’m not sure they’re actually thinking about the games that are actually going to come out. It seems kind of crazy.” 

Bottom line:
It is sure thing that Blizzard have thinked well about input devices when they designed Diablo 3. As this article explained its now a fact that its rather easy to implement Diablo 3 on consoles. If Blizzard is going to take this step is yet unknown, but the current background information indicates that Blizzard have interest to port Diablo 3 to consoles. After all because the Diablo III developers have been creative about designing GUI and to minimize the amount of key inputs used in Diablo 3.

diablo3x.com/diablo-3-fits-on-consoles

Diablo 3 at Blizzcon 2009

Remember past Blizzcons when we wondered if that horn is Diablo’s? Or anything else that looked like a clue that Diablo 3 will be announced?

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). 

A few things about Blizzcon 2009:

- Tickets will go on sale worldwide on Saturday, May 16 for $125 each

- Blizzcon 2009 will be held on August 21 and 22 in Anaheim, California

- You get a unique WoW (non-combat) pet - Grunty the murloc marine


If you’re not able to attend, there’s the poor man’s Blizzcon - live Directv coverage for just $39.95.

Diablo 2 patch 1.13 larger inventory?

Here is the comment about this from Blizzard:

It’s coming along. We’re still in the process of refining and testing the changes going into the patch. Work is progressing, we haven’t stopped working on it or anything like that. 

As far as information of what’s being changed in the patch, almost anything we’re working on now could be removed. Testing could deem any change unworkable and we’d have to remove it. By releasing any information on possible changes we’d be raising expectations that the change is guaranteed to make it in, no matter how many disclaimers we place on it. That said, one change we’re planning is to increase the stash size to 12×10. As I said it is in no way a guaranteed change. Any number of reasons could mean it will not make it into the final patch. But enjoy the breadcrumb maybe? 

Diablo 2: Patch 1.13 Release Date and Public Test

Bashiok answer about release date about Diablo 2 patch 1.13 and public test realm

So yeah, we’re still working on the patch. It’s coming along really well. We’re getting there. I can’t give an estimate or date, we’re expecting there to be a good amount of testing required due to the types of changes being made. We want to take our time and put out a solid patch, and that means we don’t have a release date right now.

Some exciting news - and it also may be some comfort - due to the types of changes we’re making we will be offering the Diablo II 1.13 patch for testing and feedback on a test realm before its release. We’ll have more information about how you’ll be able to help test it in the coming weeks.

Mistress of Pain - another Boss in Diablo 3?

The Mistress of Pain is a Diablo III monster that likely is a Boss of some sort. She is likely a Demon type monster.

The Minstress of Pain is a candidate to be a Boss type monster because of the fact that the concept art released shows diagrams of several of her abilities; far more than any normal monster would have. 


She looks extraordinarily horrible as some perverted hybrid between humanoid and spider demon. The legs look like human female thighs that are crammed down into some metal shoes (claws), and two "Frontal Blades" sticking out of her crotch. Most of these parts are uncovered by armour protection. The hind section is a soft abdomen creating two products: Sticky Slick, that impedes player movement, and Explosive Projectiles that disperse in a cluster around the player. Around this soft abdomen is a hard bone exoskeleton "ribcage".

In another concept artwork, she's found hanging by her legs in chains, with manacles attached to the legs themselves. She's more dressed, wearing a "dress-like" attire, with hints of her two Frontal Blades hidden underneath. Her face is also significantly more serene than the mad ghoul-like one she has in the shot with notes on it. Considering her appearance, it's likely that she'll be accompanied with some sort of spider-monsters or spider-inspired ones. 


What type of significance these chains have, we'll have to wait and see...

The work on Diablo 2 will not affect the Diablo 3 release

Recently, in view of the imminent release of patch 1.13, and for some months, many users have been concerned about the legitimacy of a Diablo II patch since many are wanting only Diablo III, thinking that any work on Diablo II would push off the release of Diablo III. Bashiok (The Blizzard announcer) noted that the legacy team behind patching and working on Diablo II is separate from Diablo III and will not affect the latter's release.

The Wizard and Mana

Bashiok recently chimed in on one Battle.net user's comments regarding the shortage of mana with Sorceress in Diablo 2:

"Obviously it's just too early to say the wizard does or does not have mana issues, that all comes down to balancing and fine tuning, and ideally of course the goal is that each class is very playable and not frustrating. Especially at early levels.

Mana orbs are actually the product of a passive skill in the wizard's arcane tree. Since we can't guarantee people will get that skill I don't think it can ever really become the deciding factor in mana regen. It is an early skill in that tree though, easy to pick up, and sure to be helpful."

Rumor: Diablo II Patch 1.13 Release - Just around the Corner

The Diablo 2 Patch 1.13 is just around the corner - reason why Blizzard reset ladder now.

According to internal sources the Diablo 2 patch should be available for download before end of April. After release of the patch it should be immediately available for download.

The huge Diablo 2 content patch (1.13) will likely be the last big patch for Diablo 2 before the release of its sequel Diablo 3.

Bashiok wrote following confirmation:

We’re preparing for a Diablo II ladder reset to coincide with the release of the 1.13 patch that’s currently in development. We don’t have a final release date for the patch yet, but we’re providing early warning as a reset could occur as early as the end of April. We’ll be providing updates with more certain dates once the patch is closer to release.

 Please be aware that with a ladder reset all ladder characters are moved to non-ladder. This means that your characters will still be accessible but will no longer have access to ladder-only features and games. In order to play in the new ladder season after the reset you will need to make new ladder characters.

Diablo 3 isn`t Diablo enough

It’s not just the fans anymore. Bill Roper is complaining also that Diablo 3 isn’t Diablo enough.

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.

None of the old characters will appear in Diablo III

The Diablo 3 Team has confirmed that the Barbarian will be the only recurring character class from Diablo II, of the original 5 Diablo III characters. More classes could be added in expansion(s) and some may be revisions of earlier character types. It`s also known that the Diablo III dev team at once though about making a Dervish class, but no information if that idea is completely shelved. It seems highly unlikely that the Dervish would appear though, as Blizzard have avoided talking about upcoming classes, and they would be unlikely to mention the class in passing if that is one class that will make the game. 

The Barbarian is the only Diablo II character to make it into Diablo III release. He's quite updated in style and use. 

The Witch Doctor is a new character, similar in use to the Necromancer. 

The Wizard is the third announced class, filling the archetypal magic user role previously occupied by the Sorceress.

The following characters have been confirmed to NOT appear: 

The Amazon will not appear in Diablo III. The Assassin will not appear in Diablo III. 
The Druid will not appear in Diablo III. 
The Necromancer will not appear in Diablo III. 
The Paladin will not appear in Diablo III. 
The Sorceress will not appear in Diablo III.

Some of these seem likely to join in on an upcoming expansion, that has been hinted about...

Jay Wilson said the following in an interview:

The Barbarian is the only returning class. Originally we actually planned to have no returning classes, but as we developed the barbarian, it essentially ended up turning into a barbarian. We sort of got to the point where we went – because we actually had a different name for him originally - I think were going to call it this other name and everyone else is just going to call it the barbarian, so maybe we should just call it the barbarian. 
One of the things we really did not want to do – it's why we set that initial goal to not repeat classes – was, we didn't just want a rehash; we wanted to make the sequel and the sequel has new gameplay and new experiences. I know a lot of people really love the classes in Diablo 2 and it's not my desire to intentionally arc those people – I like those classes to; I love the Necromancer, he's my favorite class from Diablo 2 – but as our goal we really wanted to provide new experiences; that was our focus.

Wizard

The Wizard is the third character class in Diablo III. As Blizzard had said earlier, the Wizard is very similar to an earlier class, in fact it is very similar to one of the earliest classes too. Only the female version of the Wizard was playable at Blizzcon 2008 along with both versions of the Barbarian and Witch Doctor.

Story

Only the female Wizard's backstory has been revealed until now. She has her origins in the Island nation of Xiansai confirming that Xiansai is indeed an Asian civilization by her striking Asian features. The male Wizard's concept art depicts him as wearing some sort of middle-eastern desert attire, which may suggest that he has originated from the sands of Aranoch, the ancestral home of both of his predecessors and the great Vizjerei mage clan. 

The female Wizard has been depicted as an uncouth and rebellious figure, always wanting to learn more, be it in ways best left to those that are considered nefarious. She is headstrong and will go to any means to get what she wants. But she does not speak unknowingly, she knows that her innate powers can decimate the opposition, even providing a tough challenge to the Vizjerei Premier, Valthek, who found her in the Ancient Repositories beneath the Yshari Sanctum, the ancient and arcane library of the Mage Clans. She delved deeper into the arcane ways, wielding powers that were not supposed to be wielded, like Arcane magics and Temporal distortion along with the mage favorites of Ice and Lightning with equal ease. 

Her upstart nature and rebelliousness has enticed the youth of Caldeum to join her and choose their own path, these young upstarts, mostly female, may explain the existence of more than one female Wizard while the lore entry describes only one. The one described in the lore entry can be assumed to be the player character but it is more probable that she will be met by players in the game world.

Video

Witch Doctor

"Many believe that the Witch Doctors of the Umbaru to be legend, though their abilities suggest otherwise. They dispatch their opponents with terrifying precision, assaulting a victim's mind and body with elixirs and powders that evoke fires, explosions and poisonous spirits. In addition, the Witch Doctors have the ability to summon undead creatures from the Netherworld to do their bidding. The tribes of the Umbaru define themselves by their belief in the Mbwiru Eikura, which roughly translates to "The Unformed Land." This belief holds that the true, sacred reality is veiled behind the physical one normally experienced. Their vitally important public ceremonies are centered upon sacrifices to the life force that flows from their gods, who inhabit the Unformed Land, into this lesser physical realm. The Witch Doctors are finely attuned to this Unformed Land and are able to train their minds to perceive this reality through a combination of rituals and the use of selected roots and herbs found in the jungles. They call the state in which they interact with this other world the Ghost Trance."

- Abd al-Hazir

The Witch Doctor is one of the new character classes for the upcoming  Diablo 3. The Witch Doctor possesses several elements of previous Diablo II character classes, namely the Sorceress, Druid and especially the Necromancer.

He seems loosely based on the real-world Voodoo practitioners. The males are depicted as frail old men having a hunched back and always shaking their head due to their physical weakness. 

However, they possess great spiritual and manipulative powers as seen in the gameplay video. They can be seen easily controlling the minds of their enemies, raising the dead without the use of corpses and lobbing alchemical projectiles at unwary victims. 

The Witch Doctor is also the first shown character showing the new elemental damage type, Arcane. In keeping with his purple color-scheme, he is shown holding a sword imbued with Arcane damage glowing in a purplish glow. 

The Barbarian

The Diablo 3 Barbarian is an evolutionary improvement on the Diablo II Barbarian. He has some of the same abilities, such as Whirlwind and Leap Attack, but has a variety of new skills to unleash on her enemies and seems to play with a more violent crushing style exuding power and devastation with her every movement. 

The Barbarian is back, and he is bigger and better! There's a great emphasis on power and destruction; on wanting every movement to look massive and devastating.

This is actually the same hero from Diablo 2. He's aged twenty years, and he's got a personality in this game. Look at his gear; his armor has points on which he could impale himself. It's extra protection for the harsh environment, but it's also dangerous to him. The day to day life characters lead in this world is very hard. 

 
Story

In his personal history the Barbarian defeated Baal, only to learn from Tyrael that the Worldstone was corrupted and would have to be destroyed. The destruction of the Worldstone blasted Mount Arreat to rubble, destroying the remainder of Baal's army and saving the Barbarian lands from their invasion. Twenty years later, when Diablo III takes place, the Barbarian lands are largely deserted, and the only remains of Mt. Arreat, formerly the symbol of the lands and the source of the Barbarians' spiritual strength, is a huge crater. 

More than the physical damage, the events detailed in Act Five of Diablo II devastated the Barbarian culture. The Barbarians gained their identity and cultural pride from protecting the Worldstone within Mount Arreat. To see it defiled by Baal and his minions, and then destroyed, tore out the heart of these proud people. They abandoned their homeland and became nomadic, wandering the lands of Sanctuary and pitching themselves into battle after battle in an effort to forget the pain of their shattered homeland. 

Abd al-Hazir visited the Barbarian lands and wrote about his experiences and observation in the 25th entry of his writings. It sets the stage for the story we'll learn when playing the game. 
The Barbarians consider it their sworn duty to protect Mount Arreat and the mysterious object within. They believe that if they fail to uphold their duty to the great mount, or are not given a proper burial upon its slopes, they will be denied a true warrior's death, and their spirits shall roam the land without honor for all eternity. 
If there are any barbarians left alive, they must truly be without hope. Perhaps this is the genesis of the rumors of monstrous things reported to resemble the barbarians in size and ferocity, but that are in reality nothing more than unreasoning, inhuman beasts. Could the destruction of not only their home but also their very beliefs have actually brought this magnificent race so low? 

 
Why Repeat the Character?

The Barbarian was not intended to come over from Diablo II originally. A character with similar appearance and skills was planned, but everyone in the dev team started calling it Barbarian, and so they decided to call it that. Jay Wilson quote:

 
The barbarian is the only returning class. Originally we actually planned to have no returning classes, but as we developed the barbarian, it essentially ended up turning into a barbarian. We sort of got to the point where we went – because we actually had a different name for him originally - I think were going to call it this other name and everyone else is just going to call it the barbarian, so maybe we should just call it the barbarian. 
One of the things we really did not want to do – it's why we set that initial goal to not repeat classes – was, we didn't just want a rehash; we wanted to make the sequel and the sequel has new gameplay and new experiences. I know a lot of people really love the classes in Diablo 2 and it's not my desire to intentionally arc those people – I like those classes to; I love the necromancer, he's my favourite class from Diablo 2 – but as our goal we really wanted to provide new experiences; that was our focus. 

 
History

It is said that when the world was very young the tribes of the Northern Steppes were given sacred charge. Somewhere deep within the great mountain Arreat, lies a source of great power, crucial to the well-being of all humanity. The tribes act as guardians of this artifact, and through this sacred duty, have shaped their way of life in observance of this power. 

Steeped in mystery and tradition, these people refer to themselves as the Children of Bul-Kathos, the great and ancient king. To better protect their lands from outside forces they adopted a nomadic lifestyle, frequently moving within the confines of the Steppes and maintaining few permanent settlements. Isolating themselves from the world outside their territories, they eschew the use of magic and complex machinery, as they believe these things can only weaken the resolve developed over so many years. 

The Children of Bul-Kathos have developed a kinship with the land and have learned to harness the primal energies in nature to enhance their own substantial physical prowess. Because of this, and their freedom from the trappings of the outside world, the Western Kingdoms has historically referred to these tribes as barbarians, an epithet that belies the rich cultural and spiritual history these people possess. Although some trade with these curious folk, they do so only along the outmost borders of their lands. All intrusions into the territory surrounding Mount Arreat are forbidden, and warriors from the northern tribes are quick to thwart any incursions. 

Every attempt at conquest has always been met with fierce and decisive resistance in an account of one skirmish, hordes of Barbarian tribesmen silently appeared where none had been but moments before. Their bodies painted in mysterious designs, the tribesmen descended on the invaders, howling as the charged like the fierce mountain winds. Fully half of the trespassing soldiers immediately dropped their weapons and fled, the remainder were set upon by the Northmen with a fervor that none of the battle-hardened invaders had ever witnessed. No quarter was asked and none was given, but in the end, when the outlanders sounded a full retreat, no chase was given either . . . at least none that could be observed. 

It is interesting that recently, since news of Diablo's re-emergence has spread, a small number of Barbarian warriors has been seen roving the lands outside the Steppes, prepared for war and seeking information regarding the recent activities of the Prime Evils. 

Quests in Diablo 3

There isn`t a lot of information about quests and quest mechanics for Diablo 3. There will be quests of course, which will be essential for the main plot.

The amount of quests will be much larger than Diablo 1 or Diablo 2, because Blizzard tries to include more roleplaying features without losing the “hack ‘n slay” style.

If it will be possible to ignore some of these quests, and still be able to advance in the game, or not, like the Quest “Bloodraven” in Diablo 2 is yet unknown.

Various randomized quests will ensure the possibility to play the game over and over again, as we are accustomed from all games from the Diablo series.
Scripted adventures will be generated random all over the world, e.g. like a caravan, that needs escort, or monstercamps, which are always led by a bossmob. Such quests are often  seen in World Of Warcraft.

A new quest related feature are the mentioned character specific quests. How they will work, or in which way they are focused on the special skills of each character, is also not yet revealed.

It could be possible that some quests can only be solved by certain characters.

For example a barbarian could help a NPC, who is trapped over a gaping canyon.
Other classes will not be able to solve this quest, because they don’t have the needed abilities, but the barbarian could leap over the canyon to rescue the NPC.

Archivist - the Blizzard's 2009 April Fool's joke

Blizzard made a funny April Fool`s joke, which misled many fans :)

The following text appeared on the Archivist page at the official Diablo III website: 

In my writings, I have recounted stories of the barbarians and their endless battles with the demons of the frozen north, and devoted pages to the wizards of Caldeum who harness the primal forces of reality. But the might of these heroes is nothing compared to the power of the archivists of Westmarch. These brave souls wade into battle wielding tome and quill, armored not in ensorcelled plate or links of chain, but in the knowledge of generations past. These archivists fight not only for our future, but for our past as well. 

I first encountered an archivist in the ruins of the great city of Travincal. While exploring one of the long-abandoned temples, I was drawn by the flickering of faint torchlight through a distant doorway, and then, as I crept nearer, by the sound of a voice. There was a feeling in the air of danger near at hand, an electricity that made the hairs on my neck rise. I inched forward, breath caught in my throat, grateful for the safety of the hallway's long shadows. Then I saw him. 

He was surrounded, the looming shapes of his foes bearing down upon him. His hair was unkempt and frazzled, his calloused hands cut and stained. But he had an air of supreme confidence, of a submerged violence that threatened to explode into being. He leapt forward, his hands grabbing for the leather bindings of his nearest enemy. 

The archivist's eyes searched for an opening, a weakness. His hands wrenched suddenly about his adversary and a sickening crack pierced the still air. Its spine broken, the book lay unmoving in the archivist's now gentle grip. As he lifted its lifeless form into the dim light, the pages of the ancient tome fell open, the secrets of the text laid bare. I remember the words he read, the religious fervor of his voice: "Here begins the first chronicle of the life of holy Akarat, prophet of Zakarum...." And on the shelves that stood all around him, tome after tome waited. 

I have the utmost respect for the archivists, these warriors of myth and legend. We know their names: Alimet Two Quills, master of illumination with both left and right hand; Morienne the Scrivener, a midwife whose poetry stole the hearts of kings and brought tyrants to tears; and Salazar Cid, the Master Transcriber of Gea Kul, whose bombastic penmanship is known in all the lands of the Twin Seas and beyond. But these are only a chosen few. The members of their honored fraternity are many, and their numbers grow every day. 

In the dark days that I fear are yet to come, much will be decided by sword and axe, with steel and spell, but I believe that in scroll and tome our survival lies.

Video:

The mad King Leoric - Boss in Diablo 3?

Leoric the Skeleton King returns in Diablo 3! His undead bones have been reanimated, and once again he's raised an army of the undead and awaits any hero who might dare bring the warmth of life into his tomb, in the catacombs beneath Tristram. Leoric is one of the first quest bosses a new character encounters, and defeating him brought an end to the Blizzcon demo, the first playable version of Diablo III ever seen by the public.  
 
Leoric is found on a throne at the end of a scripted level. The player must fight through several blockades and traps to reach Leoric's room. Along the way, Leoric's ghostly form is encountered, during which he taunts you before blowing back through the floor and vanishing, just as a great number of undead emerge from all sides of a large room. 

Once you do reach Leoric's throne, a bridge crumbles behind you leaving no escape; you must defeat Leoric to survive. Leoric's giant bones are found on a throne, and they remain motionless until a player produces The Crown of the Skeleton King, a quest item found in the dungeon above. The crown restores Leoric to life, and he rises up, taunting the player wielding a massive two-handed maul. As soon as Leoric is activated squads of all types of skeletons come from the sides of the screen, and more are found throughout Leoric's throne room, if the player retreats from the dais on which Leoric's throne sits. 

Leoric deals substantial damage with his massive club, but only swings once every few seconds, giving a player plenty of time to score hits on him between swings. It's a good idea to try to stay just out of range so you can dodge the attack, since it deals considerable damage. 

He also retains his ability to summon skeletons, and will do so during the fight, if given the opportunity. Most players at Blizzcon would fight Leoric for a moment, then run off and kill some of the skeletons he summoned to get a health globe or two, then return to the battle with Leoric. 

Leoric dropped 4-6 rare items when killed in the Blizzcon build. We can`t predict how valuable he`ll be in the final game yet, because Diablo 3 is far from completion.

Tyrael turns Evil?

The Official Diablo 3 website got a graphic update, where Tyrael wings started glowing and there is new sound added to the page. Rumours have occured that he is corrupted and maybe he turned evil and possible the final boss in Diablo 3. The one thing we know is, that Tyrael has been expelled from the Angel Council, when he helped the mortals. That could be a motive for betrayal.

Diablo 3 website with Tyrael Before:

The new Tyrael:

Look at his wings. They are loosing their shape and changing. Into what - we don`t know. Does the symbol of The Light in Diablo becomes Evil, we`ll find out soon!

Check out this Tyrael video.

Diablo 3 runes

There are going to be runes in Diablo 3, but the are going to be different from those in Diablo 2. The runes will still drop from monsters,  however, they will be used in a different way...

OK, let’s see how runes worked in Diablo 2. There are 33 runes that drop from monsters. Some of them drop often while others drop extremely (e.g. Zod rune). Also, there are items with sockets that are able to take runes (or jewels). Some rune combinations (called runewords) create Runic Items, which are among the most powerful items in the game.

For example, socketing the runes Tal + Thul + Ort + Amn gives your monarch shield a whole bunch of additional stats and it also adds the label “Spirit”.

So what are the changes to the runes in Diablo 3? Runes will still be used to customize your character, however, runes no longer modify items. Instead they’ll be added to skills (each skill has a single rune slot). It looks like the profession "Inscription" in World Of Warcraft.

Also, to make runes easier to use, rune names will be changed to reflect their effect, e.g. Rune of Multistriking. How does this affect gameplay?

For example, a Minor Multistrike Rune attached to the Skull of Flame will make projectile skip along the ground once , but higher quality Runes like the Major Multistrike Rune may raise the amount of bounces and the distance traveled by the projectile. 

Jay Wilson, Diablo 3 Lead designer, expressed his strong desire to make each skill customizable while at the same time retaining the uniqueness of each class. In other words, he doesn’t want the Barbarian to be able to mimic the Wizard by adding certain runes to skills.

Diablo 3 - general information

Diablo 3 is an action role-playing game similar in style to its predecessor, Diablo II. The proprietary engine will incorporate Havok physics and feature destructible environments with an in-game damage effect. The developers are aiming to make the game run on a wide range of systems, and have stated that DirectX 10 will not be required. Diablo 3 will use a custom 3D game engine in order to present an overhead view to the player, in a somewhat similar way to the isometric view used in previous games in the series; players may zoom in for a tighter shot of their character, though. Enemies will utilize the 3D environment as well, in ways such as crawling up the side of a wall from the depths into the combat area. Every creature model will each have thirty-five unique death animations.

As in Diablo II, multiplayer games will be possible using Blizzard's Battle.net service, with many of the new features being developed for StarCraft II also available in Diablo III. Players will be able to drop in and out of sessions of co-operative play with others.

An enhanced quest system, a random level generator, and a random encounter generator are slated for use in order to ensure the game provides different experiences when replayed. Overall, the game will include both static and randomly generated levels. Additionally, there will be class-specific quests to go along with the main storyline quests. For the first time in the series, in-engine cutscenes will be employed during key moments. A new inventory system similar to World of Warcraft will be implemented, rather than the "Tetris" block inventory system of previous games.

Unlike previous iterations, gold can be picked up by merely touching it, rather than having to manually pick it up. Sidekicks, unlike Diablo II, are now finite in-game NPCs who join you, rather than countless hires. One of the new features intended to speed gameplay are health orbs that drop from enemies, replacing the need to have a potion bar, which itself is replaced by a skill bar that allows a player to assign quick bar buttons to skills and spells; previously, players could only assign two skills (one for each mouse button) and had to swap skills with the function keys. Players can still assign specific attacks to mouse buttons.

System requirements:

PC: Windows XP/Vista, 1.4Ghz proc., 1GB RAM, DirectX 9 video card, 4-8GB HD space

Mac: MacOS X 10.3, 1.6Ghz proc., 1GB RAM (DDR recommended), 128MB nVidia/ATI video card, 4-8GB HD space