Skill Trees Removed From Diablo III
Blizzard's Jay Wilson said that skill trees will not be a part of Diablo III.
DiabloFans conducted an interview with Blizzard's Jay Wilson and chatted about the upcoming action-RPG PC game, Diablo III. Recently Blizzard revealed that it had no plans to ship the game in 2010, instead revealing a possible 2011 or 2012 street date. This latest interview dives straight into the topic of skill trees, and how they're listed as "unnamed skill tree 1-3." Naturally, inquiring Diablo fans want to know more.
Wilson's eventual explanation reflects back to two Tweets over the last week, with the first reporting that the Diablo III team is implementing and testing a new system that changes how skills are acquired. A tweet dated yesterday is more of a tease, asking followers what approach the team is taking in regards to the removed/changed skill trees.
But in the interview, Wilson admits that they're removing the tree-type architecture and will instead install a "purely" skill-based system. "This new system is still in the development stages and if it does not work, we still have plenty of options to fall back on," he said. "Right now, we're just trying different things and getting a feel for the few ideas in regards to the skill system that we have going on right now. It differs from the World of Warcraft/Diablo II type hierarchical styles and is more of a skill pool/path than a tree per se."
The interview also covers topics including class-specific quests, the difficulty settings (or current lack thereof), balancing the power of an item in comparison to its drop rate, what the merchants are selling within the game, an more. While Wilson refused to comment about the PvP system, he did say that they're trying to implement features from the published novels.
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Start: 15
Max: 100 (not including bonuses from gear or enhancements etc)
Cap: 120 (real max)
Min: 10
Obviously, higher number = better effect/damage.
That game has such a diablo2 feel to it.
Also, the guy that created the slick sounding medieval guitar music, is doing alot of the sound/music in Torchlight. I believe his name is Matt Uelman. If anything, I would call Torchlight Diablo3, and call the forthcoming Diablo3 : World of Dialocraft......
People who are expecting the aura, the mystique, and the gothic nature of diablo2, are in for a surprise. Diablo3 is going to be cartoony, wow'ish, and catering to stupid newbs.
It will never be the same again, blizzard is selling out to the masses..
I wish you weren't right...
I LOVED the archaic and gothic look and fell to Diablo 2. Get my full suit of armor, my flail, and my gothic shield, and then go spam hammers at all my enemies with 2 other hammerdins at the same time. That was fun.
I do miss my Hammerdin...
Hell, while the druid was fun, I wasn't a big fan of the Diablo 2 expansion.
Diablo 2 also had really fun online play.
Hell, I'd still play Diablo 2 if it just got a graphics bump (640x480 for D2, 800x600 max for D2 expac).
And yeah, Torchlight is kinda fun.Though using a pistol in one hand while weilding a shield in the other seems very odd to me.
I hope Blizzard doesn't mess this up...
Meh. I'm already over Diablo III simply because it looks like WoW. There's nothing sinister, dark, and gothic about creeping through a cartoony dungeon. It's going to be like a standalone version of Naxxramas + Icecrown.
You are right, but then again, Torchlight also have an Ultra-Cartoony look to it. Even worst than what D3 looks like. It's a shame the original D1/D2 devs took that route. What were their point? Copying Blizzard's lack of visual art taste or something? Cause that's popular? It seems so.
There's a reason why they took that route. Go Google.
When i was saying that Diablo 3 wont be what a developer like Blizzard should be capable to release after ALl those years I got flamed. They are screwing over WoW the past couple of years and now they have no excuse by raping Diablo as well with all those years in between. This is unacceptable to be called as a developer who achieved something huge to be so dissapointing and let alone so slow. Took so many eyars to talk about releasing Diablo 3 in 2012? And when I saw the video most were drooling when you can see that. this was just a diabloe 2 with a BIT updated graphics and yet they are trying to reomve skilltrees? Wtf did making WoW noobis to atract more ppl work so good for them that they are willing to simplify also Diablo 3 to the same bad extend? Sucks . I hate you Blizz for ruining WoW and now making me think you are ruiing Diablo 3. Damn it. Oh well. Dragon Age is amazing. They should take that as example from Bioware that has been a busy and worthy developer the past years with Mass Effect and so on.
diablo 3
... etc
Remember that Starcraft 2 was announced in May 2007, and Diablo 3 just over a year after that. SC2 will come out the first-half of next year, and Diablo 3 probably a year afterwards.
Yes, the development cycles are long, but they're not unending. 3 years from announcement to launch does not a Duke Nukem Forever make (close, but not quite).
Finally, I'm really confused by why people think the removal of skill trees make it more like WoW. Did you see the Diablo 3 skill trees? Yeah, their style and functionality was almost identical to WoW. Removing them for an alternative system is a move away from World of Warcraft.
I don't know if Diablo 3 is going to be a good game or not. I think nostalgia is clouding the heads of some, however. I'd rather not play inventory Tetris, thank you very much. Changing systems that added more to annoyance and frustration than to challenge is a step in the right direction. The inventory system will be more WoW-like, which I don't care about one way or the other. I'd personally prefer an encumbrance system, where you keep the idea of different items take up different amounts of space, without the "fun" inventory management mini-game.