Diablo III --Impressions start on page 36 --

[Purge]

My horadric gem of knowing is blinking 12:00.

[Teggy]

How deep is the story in Diablo? Will a person coming in to III feel like they are missing a lot of lore?

[Purge]

You have time to catch up.

[Teggy]

You have time to catch up.

I have time, yes, but I started up Diablo a few months ago and it felt a little...er...dated.

[leo8877]

You have time to catch up.

I have time, yes, but I started up Diablo a few months ago and it felt a little...er...dated.

Hell on Earth Sanctuary.  You're caught up.

However, you can read up on a wiki or something to learn about Tristram and the wanderer, etc.

[EngineNo9]

Glad to see that Blizzard is still fully willing to treat a beta as an actual beta.  But this is one of the reasons I want to wait until the game is done before I play it. 

[Crabbs]

Good thing to note though, is that these changes have been made and are not just on the drawing board. While it definitely squashes those Feburary (sic) rumors, I'm still hoping for a summer release.

[Blackjack]

How deep is the story in Diablo? Will a person coming in to III feel like they are missing a lot of lore?

This is Diablo -- mash a lot of monsters, comb through a lot of loot. This is not Shakespeare. You'll be fine. Also, there is some reference to what happened in the earlier games, enough to get rookies up to speed. I think it's one of those things where if you played the first couple games you'll have some "ah, that's cool" moments of recognizing something/someone, but it won't be necessary to enjoying the game or understanding the basic story.

In the public beta, nearly all of the NPC dialogue is now voice-acted, and that certainly added a lot. There aren't dialogue choices (this isn't a Bioware game), but I did find the voice acting made me at least a little more invested in the storyline. At least on first run-through I was more inclined to listen to the dialogue then click past it.

I still think a release date similar to Diablo II's (June 29, 2000) is possible. Blizzard doesn't seem beholden to releasing sequels on the same dates as their predecessors (Starcraft came out in March, Starcraft 2 released in July, etc.). I think it still goes back to "when it's done."

I know a lot of us in the public beta quite enjoyed it already, but certain major features hadn't been implemented at all yet. At this point, I don't even know if those impressions mean anything anymore with this much revamping being/having been done.

[rittchard]

Senior producer quits, and now Blizzcon is cancelled!  Blizzard is out of control! 

On a side note look at all these freaking jobs at Blizzard - why don't some of you talented folk go grab one and get us the inside scoop 

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/careers/directory.html#region=Americas

[Blackjack]

On those job descriptions, presumably the Next Gen MMO is Titan, but the job for that one "unannounced title" is interesting:
http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/careers/posting.html?id=1100056

=============
More cuts in scrolls:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3967947023

A few more changes have made their way in to Diablo III beta patch 10, including the removal of Scrolls of Companion and Scrolls of Reforging, and we’ll be updating the patch notes to reflect that.

In both cases these are features we felt were underdeveloped and just not quite good enough for the game in their current state. The companion pets felt like they were mandatory to maximize play efficiency and some of the pets were too cutesy for the gritty, dark world of Sanctuary. Neither of those are issues we felt like we could solve without a lot of additional work, and we’re trying to close in on a solid release date for the game, not move further away. When weighing these systems against releasing the game, we decided to cut these scrolls and stay on track for the game’s release.

We think we can make companion pets into a much cooler system (both mechanically and visually), and evolve the reforging scrolls into a more meaningful system at some point in the future. For the time being, they will not be in the initial release of the game.

Also, they're giving up on D3 and choosing instead to re-release Diablo I for $49.99, now with... SVGA graphics! Go for it!  

Seriously, it doesn't sound very Blizzard-like to be frantically cutting features left and right to meet a release date on a game that's been in development for years. I blame Activision.  

[Purge]

That, plus we now live in a world of paid DLC.

[Blackjack]

That, plus we now live in a world of paid DLC.

We're charging you $1.99 just for that comment. 

[Harkonis]

I think I'll start charging for people to recharge their Hark points! 

[rittchard]

I think I'll start charging for people to recharge their Hark points!  

You can probably charge for other stuff too    Weren't you the one with the tongue piercing?

[Harkonis]

nope, nipple piercing

[Isgrimnur]

Do they whistle on a windy day?

[Harkonis]

It can hurt on a cold one

[TiLT]

Seriously, it doesn't sound very Blizzard-like to be frantically cutting features left and right to meet a release date on a game that's been in development for years. I blame Activision.  

It sounds to me like they're cutting stuff that needed to be cut. I mean, cutesy companion critters? In Diablo? Seriously? I had never heard about that feature before, but now I feel nothing but great relief that it was cut. What were they thinking?

[Isgrimnur]

That it was just like WoW?

[Teggy]

Seriously, it doesn't sound very Blizzard-like to be frantically cutting features left and right to meet a release date on a game that's been in development for years. I blame Activision. 

It sounds to me like they're cutting stuff that needed to be cut. I mean, cutesy companion critters? In Diablo? Seriously? I had never heard about that feature before, but now I feel nothing but great relief that it was cut. What were they thinking?

Torchlight has pets 

[rittchard]

It can hurt on a cold one

I can lick it to warm it up.

- - -

Played a little of the newest build last night.  It felt pretty much exactly the same thus far, though for some reason it seemed to run much smoother.  Earlier builds I'd get more pauses/glitches even on my "good" system.  I did recently upgrade my RAM and I think I am playing off an SSD now (don't ask, it's a long story), so any of those 2 things might have boosted performance.  I'll try it out on my low end system as soon as I get a chance to see if it's also improved.

The changes so far felt incredibly minor and more like polish than a full system change.  I'm really not sure if that's good or bad news.

[Purge]

It can hurt on a cold one

I can lick it to warm it up.

- - -

Zero to awkward in eight syllables.

[rittchard]

It can hurt on a cold one

I can lick it to warm it up.

- - -

Zero to awkward in eight syllables.

It's my one and only super power!  

(making things awkward, not the licking of pierced nipplage.  I can also do other stuff to make things awkward, ask Hark!)

[Jag]

Lots of invites going out, but not emails. Check your Bnet accounts.

[CeeKay]

Lots of invites going out, but not emails. Check your Bnet accounts.

 

[rittchard]

Lots of invites going out, but not emails. Check your Bnet accounts.

 

Nice!  Looks like I'm "officially" in now too!  Should we start putting together a friends list?  My Battletag is rittchard#1447, I think you can friend under the name or the number.

[CeeKay]

CeeKay#1328 here.

[The Grue]

Still not in.

[skystride]

I just checked and I'm in too! 

[soulbringer]

In!! Now comes the long download process.  
Soulbringer#1903

[Purge]

Wooo Freakin Hoo!

[leo8877]

Wooo Freakin Hoo!

No email and IN here too!

[Harkonis]

pfft

[ericb]

Nope...anyone above a member of the annual pass?  Wondering if that has anything to do with earlier beta access?

[Jag]

I have an annual pass and got into the beta shortly after. Doubt it was related.

[Qantaga]

Lots of invites going out, but not emails. Check your Bnet accounts.

    
 

[The Grue]

Nope...anyone above a member of the annual pass?  Wondering if that has anything to do with earlier beta access?

Friend of mine got in today and he hasn't even had a subscription to WoW for like 4 years.

[leo8877]

Nope...anyone above a member of the annual pass?  Wondering if that has anything to do with earlier beta access?

Nope, I'm not signed up for an annual pass.  I know a guy who is though and he didn't get into the D3 beta yet, even today.

[msduncan]

WOO HOO!!!

I got in, and I haven't done anything to get in other than sign up when Beta sign ups opened up.

[Purge]

Purge #1349