Diablo 3

And now, it's back to Diablo III, to learn a bit more about the history and philosophy of the gameplay.

Jay Wilson has returned to the stage, so let's see what he has to say!

LIVE BLOG:
(most recent event first)

10:23am : ...and with that, we cross to question time. If you wanted a more indepth look at what was covered in this panel, look up our Worldwide Invitational coverage - this gameplay panel was awfully similar to the one Jay presented in Paris - right down to the inclusion of the caravans and the summoning cult.
Don't get me wrong - it was a good panel, but I didn't need to see it twice ;)

10:20am : Adventures are a new random element
They can be placed almost anywhere, such as:
- an old abandoned house to explore
- an evil cult summoning ritual
- caravan that needs protecting
- enemy camp with boss...
(These are all seeable in the demo on the showfloor.)

10:18am : A Better RPG:
Improve story without losing 'opt-in' feel
Remove the 'generic' feeling from random dungeons
Bring te world to life with more NPC interactions, better quests, and events.

10:18am : Skeletal Shieldbearer - slow and methodical but tough / accompanies ranged units / acts as a health wall for other units.

10:17am : Dear Jay Wilson, I understand that you are knowledgeable about your product, but didn't you give this presentation in Paris? It seems awfully familiar...

10:16am : Berserker - Aggressive Creatures / Massive Damage / Charged up attack - but vulnerable if he misses.

10:15am : New health system:
Little to no downtime
Encourages conflict
Positional gameplay
Cooperative gameplay

10:13am : The potion belt has been replaced with a new Hotbar, which features:
Skills over potions
Cleaner UI
Greater skill diversity escape, control, buffs
Class specific tactics
Beter gameplay - "slightly less carpal tunnel" (heh)

10:12am : A better action game:
Kickass player characters
Improved controls (it'll still kill your mouse though)
Less Spam - more Depth
A new breed of monster

10:12am : Co-operative play:
New version of Battle.net - designed to remove as many barriers from people, so they can just jump on and play with their friends.
Join your friends any time
Massive co-operative battles
...and more to come.

10:10am : Isometric gameplay makes a return - and the game claims to have a smooth difficulty curve, as well as being simple to learn, but deep - and difficult to master.

10:10am : Approachable - best summed up by the great saying, "If you can click a mouse, you can play Diablo 3" :)

10:09am : Epic Heroes -
large scale combat
massively powerful classes
strong and unique archetypes - revisiting old characters but revamping them.
...these were a hallmark of D2 - even better in D3.

10:08am : ...and the new one, Random Adventures - new to Diablo III!

10:07am : Now that the Lord has left the building, Jay is focussing on replayability and how it is implemented in the game - random environments / random monster encounters / randomly generated items / higher difficulty levels...

10:06am : ...Jay Wilson is being spoken to by God via the microphones and speakers. This is important, apparently.

10:06am : The "Spirit of Diablo" includes the concepts:
Replayable RPG
Powerful heroes engaged in epic large-scale combat
Approachable gameplay, cooperative focus.

10:05am : Original Diablo - reinvigorated the rpg market
Diablo II - sequel to Siablo, expanded scope
Diablo III - continues to expand.

10:04am : Diablo II design goals:
Stay true to the Diablo experience
Amazing moment-to-moment action
Expanded RPG experience
New systems