Diablo III Forum Activity

Diablo community manager “Bashiok” discusses the April Fools’ reaction, monster abilities, difficulty levels, a Diablo II ladder reset, and more in his latest responses on the official Diablo III forums.

On the April Fools’ reaction:

Obviously not, but … come on, that post was all over the place. Go look at it. Don’t even read it, just look at the formatting. It’s spilling crazy all over the floor it’s so full of crazy.

Anyway, there are a few archetypes of classic fantasy characters. Expecting us to do something completely outside of those archetypes for the sake of trying to be original is unnecessary, and would probably lead to something that’s just ridiculous and not fun, or difficult to design – let alone balance.

I’m more than happy with you expressing your opinion, and as I summed it up yes essentially your opinion was that you wanted more originality. That’s fine, but I was just saying the way in which it was presented was practically inedible.

…

Haha I think you’ve only served to confuse me more.

Well, I’m not sure I can discuss much more without showing our hand. But! I think we’ll have at least one class in the game that will appeal to everyone. And that’s sort of the goal with the core game, hit those main archetypes that everyone can identify with. “Hey, a Wizard… I’m pretty sure I know what that’s all about without even seeing it.” Any potential expansions are probably where you’d try out something not of a core archetype like, say, an assassin or druid. ;P

The witch doctor is a bit riskier, and I think sometimes written off as just a twist on the necromancer, but no one has really seen most of his abilities and the flavor he brings. He still has a lot left for people to discover.

On lots of stuff:

Oh… why not. Questions with uninteresting “no comment” or “unknown at this time” answers removed.

Has anymore thought been put into Hardcore? Are any features decided-upon?

I think the last thing I heard from Jay on it in public was something along the lines of “Ok fine we’ll just commit to a hardcore mode here and now” outside of that no details have been released.

Has a definitive MP player-limit been set?

No

Should we be looking forward to a *major* informational update soon?

Haha, you did my work for me. Yes, soon. 😀

Will regular enemies have spell abilities that can cause the loss of character control (fear, etc.)?

I’m not aware of any, though there are some things that will hold your character in place. They’re usually resolved through dealing damage though, so it’s not like you actually lose control of your character. It’s up to you how fast you regain movement control. Quite a few trap and monster abilities have yet to be designed though, so I wouldn’t count anything out. In general I’m not sure full loss of character control fits into this game.

What is a work day in the life of Bashiok like?

A serious answer would just depress everyone.

I’ve heard that you guys affectionately refer to Boyarsky as “Leonardo.” Truth?

I’ve called him Chef Boyarsky, but I don’t think it caught on.

What is the approximate maximum number of summonable creatures for the Witch Doctor?

You mean mongrels, or how many abilities does he have that summon creatures? Neither would be final so I guess it doesn’t matter. 😛

Is gold truly on auto-pickup or was that just set in the gameplay movie?

You only need walk over/near gold to pick it up.

Can we make other items auto-pickup?

Not planned.

Can you reveal yet how Gold is being made more valuable?

People will want more of it.

Will gold values show on ALT-hold?

Yes.

Will the other D2 character classes be making appearances (a la Blood Raven & the Summoner)?

Could be.

Are any notable sound effects making returns?

Hrm, interesting question. I’m not sure. Probably not.

From the Blizzcast 8 screenshots, it looks like the action bar at the bottom has become a lot bigger. Is this so, or is it just the screenshots? I thought it looked pretty darn good in the reveal trailers.

I hadn’t noticed that. I’m not sure.

Will there be an option to hide the action bar?

I would guess that there will be so you can take a screenshot without UI elements.

What is the purple glow on the Witch Doctor’s sword in the gameplay trailer?

Probably a +arcane damage stat.

If potions are so rare, what do belts do now? Do they add additional potion tab slots? Are they just another opportunity for item bonuses?

Stats.

What is the icon to the top-right of the minimap in the gameplay trailers?

Unless I’m mistaken, World Map.

On the Diablo II ladder reset:

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.

This thread will be updated with more information as it becomes available.