Diablo III Preview

Blizzard’s highly anticipated Diablo sequel has once again been given the preview treatment, and this time the overview comes at us from Ten Ton Hammer.

One thing that drove many people nuts in the older Diablo games, me included, was the fact that you couldn’t select your gender for a class. Whatever that class was you were stuck with it. In Diablo 2 you could choose from a barbarian, necromancer, druid, or paladin, but all were male. Likewise, you could only play as the preselected female for the sorceress, assassin, and the amazon. Luckily, in Diablo 3, the developers have added the option to choose your gender for any class. The restriction that existed in the old games is no more. Rejoice!

Classes will once again have skill trees to choose from, but the developers are adding a few new juicy options to the mix. For example, Skill Runes drop randomly through the world and can be socketed to boost your skills much like the runes and gems in Diablo 2. Unlike the last game, the runes don’t lock once used, so you can change them out if you want, so experimenting with different combinations will be possible without losing all your runes. Using a Multistrike Rune to enhance a skill can turn a single blasting fireball into a rolling ball of fiery death.