And Blizzard's big announcement is...

[Jeramiahh]

For those of you who've been following the big build up on the Blizzard websites over the past week, featuring something mysterious breaking through the ice... they announced early this morning (Or this afternoone, for you folks in other parts of the world) what their brand new game is.

Diablo 3.

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/

*fanboy squeal*

[Brandon]

For a game thats got technology thats lightyears ahead of its predecessors it sure doesnt look much different graphically. However keeping the same theme might help the game out, especially with the old fans.

[RubySlippers]

I can only afford basic dialup internet if it was past the level of Diablo 1 and 2 I couldn't play it and I love Diablo.

[Brandon]

When it comes out drop a hint to your friends/boyfriends about getting it as a Christmas or birhtday present ;)

[Jeramiahh]

Yeah, that's always been Blizzard's philosophy; don't push the bleeding edge, let everyone have a chance to play. Take World of Warcraft, for instance; if you look at early alpha screenshots, they're near top-of-the-line graphics, for that day, anyway. They intentionally scaled them back, to allow more people to play. Hell, it runs on Macs, that's saying something. =P

Besides, what more does Diablo need? They perfected the formula in the first game, now they're just polishing it and adding more shinies that weren't possible the first two times around. Hell, I'd play it if it were still using D1 graphics. =P

[RubySlippers]

I like Diablo but I wish they had a gender choice for some of the classes such as the Sorceress why not a Sorceror for the guys. And for the girls a female Necromancer. So that would be a nice change. But why mess with what works its easy to play, hard to master and I'm looking forward to the new classes they come up with.

[Sabby]

YAYS!!!

[kongming]

Besides, what more does Diablo need? They perfected the formula in the first game

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In all seriousness, I loved the first Diablo. Diablo 2... I loved starting it, but I grew to hate it. That being said, Blizzard are good at making games, and they make good games. Diablo 3 will be good, even if it isn't my thing, and it might very well end up being my thing.

My ex was getting very annoyed: the cracked ice had a winking smiley face added at some point, so she thought Blizzard was mocking her. Also, someone posted a link to what the mystery game was. A youtube video. I think we all know what it is.

To all those who were hoping it would be World of Starcraft:
You have my sympathies. I was also hoping to see naked female Protoss dancing through the cities.

---

My PC probably won't be able to run it, but still, looking forward to seeing D3 in action.

[Jeramiahh]

Yeah, Diablo's fairly simple-minded... but, then again, one could say the same thing about most FPSs. "Boy, I sure do love running around, clicking the left mouse button."

In all seriousness, though, given the screens we saw of the game today, it easily looks like any computer able to run WoW could run D3; the graphics in no way push any modern computer to any edge.

Mmm... naked Protoss babes... >_>

[Gathering Wilderness]

Yes, yes. I had such a massive loregasm earlier this afternoon listening to Deckard Cain read from his journal. -Wipes a tear from his eye.- So much of my younger years wasted on that game, and now they give it another installment. Pure joy, I tell ya.

[Xillen]

Hmm, mixed feelings.

For one thing, I would never even start playing WoSC. I've had it with MMO's by now. D3, I dunno. The more lighthearted setting and play whenever you want is interesting... But if it's like D1 and D2, than it does become repetitive kinda fast. Making it really depend on who you play with...

I'll most likely buy and play it. Dunno how long I'll play it.

[Chris Brady]

...Really fricken COOL!

I so want this game!

GO BARBARIAN!

[kongming]

If I get it and play it, my choice will be largely similar to the choice I made with D1 and D2: I need to stare at an arse all day. Better make it a nice one (Rogue in 1, Sorceress in 2, even though every goddamn enemy in the entire second half of the fucking game is immune to magic and every boss makes you want to nail the Blizzard designers to the floor, slice open their stomach, urinate into the internal organs and wait for septic shock to kill them, yes I'm fucking bitter).

So I guess I'll need to wait and see what characters are released for it.

[Xillen]

Mmh, I went with that as well (though I chose Amazon in D2), but I enjoyed the archery style, so it wasn't that bad for me.

*Goes to check the link, now he's reminded of it back at home*

Will players be able to choose the gender of their character, regardless of class?

Yes. Players will be able to create male and female characters for all five classes.

Seems you have less to worry about this time, Kongming :)

[kongming]

Excellent. Now to hope magic classes don't get shafted (or alternatively that the female barbarian/whatever looks sexiest).

Trust me, female barbarians can look gorgeous. A nice moderate tan, wild hair, tattoos/warpaint (WOAD WAGE!), the barest minimum of clothing, nice toned muscles and an altogether natural look.

Although the blood of her enemies caked to her naked body can be seen as a downside (for some).

[Xillen]

Check the barbarian class page. I ran into some female barbarian artwork. She doesn't seem to be gray and wrinkled like the male barbarian does :P

I guess that leaves amazones out, as that would mean they had to include male amazones, which seems rather odd. :P

I wonder what they're going to do with Hirelings. I doubt they make them genderspecific, but one can hope for amazon hirelings (D2 had hirelings from D1), since melee hirelings die way too quickly.

Now why does this make me wanna play D2?

[Psi]

This makes me want to get D2 running on my Mac..

Now to find a version that works.

[Kazae]

...even though every goddamn enemy in the entire second half of the fucking game is immune to magic and every boss makes you want to nail the Blizzard designers to the floor, slice open their stomach, urinate into the internal organs and wait for septic shock to kill them...

...

I adore you.

Now if only I could find a suitable game to run that would provide suitable incentive to play and partake of Epic Bitterness.

[Chris Brady]

I'm a little confused.  How were people stuck looking at the asses of the Diablo characters?

I can't see it.  The view I have (As I've reinstalled my copy of D2 and LoD) is usually isometric and I'm usually looking at the barbarian's front.  (I'll get to the Sorceress and the Paladin, in that order, later.)

[Inkidu]

From what I saw in a magazine the graphics are really quite good. It looks as good as Fable 2 is supposed to. I found the games quite enjoyable without online anyway.

[Chris Brady]

Go get the Gameplay video from the site, it's worth it.

[Xillen]

I'm a little confused.  How were people stuck looking at the asses of the Diablo characters?

I can't see it.  The view I have (As I've reinstalled my copy of D2 and LoD) is usually isometric and I'm usually looking at the barbarian's front.  (I'll get to the Sorceress and the Paladin, in that order, later.)

Figure of speech. It's still there on the middle of your screen like always. Go go Amazon - Valkyrie - Rogue team :P

[Chris Brady]

I think the Witch Doctor has replaced the Necromancer.

There's going to be a 'Ranger' type, I'll bet...

I'm pretty sure the Sorceress and her counterpart will be back, as will the Paladin of Zakarum.

[Xillen]

Mmh, with 5 classes, that sounds like the most logical setup. 2 melee, 1 ranged and 2 casters. The Ranged could also be a combined melee/ranged class like the Amazon was.

[Hellfyre]

I think the Witch Doctor has replaced the Necromancer.

There's going to be a 'Ranger' type, I'll bet...

I'm pretty sure the Sorceress and her counterpart will be back, as will the Paladin of Zakarum.

I heard that Barbarian is the only returning class.

Though they'll prolly pull some strange blizzard magic, label a sorceress an 'elementalist' and be done with it.

[Xillen]

Even if the Barbarian is the only returning class, they're bound to have a class that is just tossing pure magic around.

Paladins are less so assured, but I still think there'll be another melee character next to the Barbarian.

[Rhapsody]

Even if the Barbarian is the only returning class, they're bound to have a class that is just tossing pure magic around.

Paladins are less so assured, but I still think there'll be another melee character next to the Barbarian.

Witchdoctors.  They're badass.

[Xillen]

Mmh, but they seem to be utility casters, relying partially on summons and totems and combos, whereas there most likely will be another caster focussing on direct damage spells.

There is the Barbarian.
There is the Witch Doctor.
There will most likely be a character that at least has the option to focus on ranged weapons (Rogue/Amazon/Ranger type).
There will most likely be a character that focuses on direct damage spells (Sorcerer/Sorceress/Mage type).
The 5th character leaves the most options. But with the Barbarian being the only melee option (unless they make the Ranger quite hybrid), they most likely give it melee abilities.

[Hellfyre]

Given that the game has huge swarms of little enemies, much larger groups of such than in diablo 1 or 2. And massive bosses, much like the one in the finale of the gameplay video. I think that they will have a class that does obscene Melee damage, but to one enemy, like an assassin, or some such. Just an idea. That boss was huge. :< Poor Baba.

[ZK]

Maybe they'll have better customer support for this then Diablo I and World of Warcraft had. :/

[Xillen]

Diablo I is something from their early days. They just fired up Battle.net, and there wasn't even any key protection on their CD's! Can't really expect much of it.

WoW is not Battle.net. It's a completely seperate department. I had my fair share of problems with the WoW department, but that doesn't mean I'm going to distrust Battle.net.

[ZK]

Hence why I left out Diablo II. ^.^

[RubySlippers]

But Diablo I had some nice charm I liked three classes and it was in its own way elegant. And didn't suck up uber amounts of computer memory.  :D

[ZK]

The game was good, the online was... eeek!

[RubySlippers]

I played in an instore network its a great game for that when you can yell at the other players what you want them to do.  :D

Not that I don't like Diablo II or LOD I do and hope they keep supporting them for their fans but the new game may be better. I wish you could select a gender in most cases like be a male or female barbarian or whatever.

And that big boss looks scary....  :-\

[Xillen]

You can! All player characters now have both a male and a female variant, as usual with cosmetic changes only.

[Chris Brady]

I think the Sorceress/or will be coming back.  After all, the "Mage Clans" were a big thing in D2.

[Xillen]

I haven't seen the thing about they're only recycling the Barbarian. If you read the FAQ on the D3 site, it even seems to indicate that there'll be at least another recycled class, but even if they don't, they can just call it something else. Sorcerer/Sorceress might be a tad confusing as it indicates a gender, so there's a decent chance it'll have a different name, but the same core mechanics.

[Hellfyre]

"We have no plans to carry classes over. It's a fresh start, we haven't finalized the final classes or how many there will be. We're not trying to bring back Diablo II classes." - Though I'm not so sure about this one. x3

"Blizzard Entertainment also stated that other than the Barbarian, there will be no returning character classes from the first two games. It's quite likely that the Barbarian is an exception because it was far and wide the favorite character class, most often chosen by Diablo II players."

Also:

In before blizzard releases SC2 and Diablo 3, then starts charging a monthly subscription for battlenet 3. Causing outrage. ;D

[kongming]

What was Battlenet actually for, anyway? I honestly don't know. I'm going to assume it was just some online server?

In that case, even if they do charge, it's not much of an issue: going by previous games, the single player campaign(s) should be worth the cost of purchase alone, and if you want to play multiplayer, just go to a LAN. That way you can share snacks and shout rude words at the other players anyway :D

[Jeramiahh]

Battle.net was just Blizzard's online servers, yeah.

And yes, LANs are so much fun. There's nothing like a well-coordinated team pulling off impossible tasks, like dominating a series of missions designed for twice as many people, of a higher level, in City of Heroes, or winning a 32 player map of Team Fortress 2, with your people taking 1st-4th.

"Oh god, why are you all dying, stop dying!"

[kongming]

I used to, many years ago, just do small LANs with groups of friends. As in, around 5 of us. We had a lot of fun, though - going through Diablo 1 cloning items (specifically, cloning each others ears), then playing whatever mass shootan game was popular at the time, then a little Dungeon Siege...

And if ever we couldn't decide what to play, we'd play Tron until we did decide.

Good times.

[Sabby]

We would play Earth Special Forces until we decided on a game. Good times...

[Chris Brady]

Witchdoctors.  They're badass.

As I stated, they're the Necro analog, there's no 'pure' blaster yet.

[RubySlippers]

"We have no plans to carry classes over. It's a fresh start, we haven't finalized the final classes or how many there will be. We're not trying to bring back Diablo II classes." - Though I'm not so sure about this one. x3

"Blizzard Entertainment also stated that other than the Barbarian, there will be no returning character classes from the first two games. It's quite likely that the Barbarian is an exception because it was far and wide the favorite character class, most often chosen by Diablo II players."

Also:

In before blizzard releases SC2 and Diablo 3, then starts charging a monthly subscription for battlenet 3. Causing outrage. ;D

They better not the BEST thing about Blizzard is their servers are currently free and lets you play hours and hours of games for the cost of the basic product only. I just hope they still keep Diablo II supported its still a good game.  ???

[Xillen]

Mmh, Battle.net is indeed support for only Blizzard games (Diablo, Starcraft, Warcraft II BNE, Diablo II and Warcraft III). They're split in US East, US West, Europe and Asia (and Asia2 and Asia3 in more recent dates? Not sure). WoW is the only Windows game from Blizzard that doesn't use Battle.net.

So they're going to charge for online Starcraft II and Diablo III support? If at a decent price, I'm probably game. I DO hope that it's one overall fee, though, and not a seperate fee for Starcraft II and Diablo III. That would just be stupid.

[ZK]

Feh, Online for non MMO games should be free and always remain free.

I'll only PAY for it if they release constant updates for it. If not, there is no point in paying.

[Le RandomBloke]

Feh, Online for non MMO games should be free and always remain free.

I'll only PAY for it if they release constant updates for it. If not, there is no point in paying.

This reminds me of Hellgate: London, what a bunch of fail.

[ZK]

So much fail Namco Bandai bought it... yes, the PC company of it... NB makes awesome games for the consoles... but PC, keep them AWAY.

[Chris Brady]

Welp, I called it.  They got a Sorceress/Sorceror, renamed Wizard.  :)

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/characters/wizard.xml