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.

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