Fan Site Summit: Part One & Diablo III Demo

We were invited to Blizzard Entertainment's headquarters just a day before BlizzCon 2009 begins, and there's more to note from this little event even though most of what we hope will be big reveals were kept quiet even to us special invitees. Part two is now available. Check out the photo gallery too.

The events of the day included:

After a few photo ops outside the main guest lobby in front of the infamous Warcraft statue by the more infamous Weta Workshop, the community managers led us into the museum and theater area. Inside the lobby we passed by models of Frostmourne and Kerrigan next to a flat-panel display churning out the StarCraft II announcement cinematic, and nearby a table housing a few books of fan artwork and letters. A large and almost ominous company logo hovered above the front desk.

We've seen the artwork and awards museum a few times before, but seeing it in person was another experience altogether. The display cases are entirely stuffed with all those that the company's collected over the years. The most awing of this display was perhaps one special award for employee service, hiding in a back hallway, a pristine sword and shield.

From inside the theater onward we weren't permitted to take photos or recordings, but the juiciest bits for you Diablo fans come from my own little scribbles on a traditional pad of paper.

We were next treated to a thirty minute demo of Diablo III in the new area of Alcarnus first revealed at GamesCom 2009 convention in Europe just days ago. Bashiok loaded up Diablo III from the desktop and the game swiftly loaded a main screen with the three currently known character classes, sadly lacking a reveal of the fourth. While we didn't get to see a new class just yet, we did get get to see him first play as the male version of the Wizard that until now we've seen very scarcely.

The demo loaded him just outside Caldeum next to an NPC curiously named Asheara. (We previously speculated that this might be the return of Asheara from Act III of Diablo II but she seems not at all the same, even with 20 years of ageing.) Swiftly he was off into the desert, which immediately showed its most striking environmental effect: A perpetual sandstorm that looks like nothing I've seen in games ever before, quite beautifully done thanks to developers like the one I would meet at lunch later.

Despite this fancy new environmental effect, as he ventured into the desert it invoked much the same image as Diablo II Act II's desert environments, however spiced up by the amazing new Diablo III engine. One complaint I had about the desert environments of the past is how cramped they felt, but especially before playtesting later today it's too early to tell if they will feel-- or be-- more expansive. Nonetheless, it is difficult to express how impressively, exquisitely detailed these areas are in comparison to the deserts around Lut Gholein; it's the stunning perspective graphics and the architecture of structures within that make the world so much bigger.

Amongst this adventuring, Bashiok showed us the new Quests and Skills panes. Quests are being handled somewhat traditionally, actually referred to as "classically styled," though there is a nifty lower section for Side Missions. The skill trees pane had the most dramatic change, now appearing on the left side of the screen and all three in unison.

Inventory has also had a major change implemented: Gone is the concept of the single slot inventory system and the development team's returned to an organization system used in the previous games amusingly referred to as "Tetris style." Potions and scroll were stackable, and there was a new slot for pants, or as we like to say from RPG tradition, leggings. More subtly, for convenience items can be identified or equipped directly just by right-clicking on them. While Bashiok was playing as the Wizard, we also got the chance to see a class-specific item, an orb, but the demo didn't delve deeper than a quick mention.

This first area, called The Sundred Pass, housed various monsters including the return of the Sabre Cat now known as the Lacuni Huntress. They're not alone, in fact there are mor varieties of Lacuni such as the Lacuni Warrior. Sand Wasps had a familiar feel to the desert arenas we've visited before in games past, though they also frequently and rapidly generate mini versions of themselves. Additionally, there were some Fallen of the new and traditional varieties including my new favorite by its new appearance: The Fallen Shaman.

Still, the most stunning and terrifying of these foes was the wholly new Dune Darvish. While difficult to describe, this is a monster that essentially spins into a fury like a stationary Druid's Tornado yet with extra punch: This attack reflects projectiles even including the Wizard's Arcane Orb, and it deals significant damage if you get caught in its torrent of spikes. Bashiok indicated that this monster is especially dangerous for the close-quarters Barbarian, though a couple times he only by slight measures kept his Wizard from perishing in the process of the demo.

Bashiok used Ice Armor as a good base of defense against the simpler of demons. Otherwise, we mostly saw him using many Arcane Orbs to fend off enemies, and Mirror Image - A decoy that distracts monsters but doesn't deal damage "without augmentation." It will certainly be interesting to see what different methods one can take to add damage to this skill, though runes are an obvious choice.

In a shout back to the original game, in the middle of The Sundred Pass a tome -- or rather what was titled a Wanted Poster -- waited for him and upon clicking on it dished out a batch of audio lore and a quest.

Shrines are also back, and their buffs which currently last about one minute offer bonuses to experience received, skill damage, magic find, and more.

On the flipside, curses are definitely still part of the game in the absence of the Necromancer, as the "plagues" of some unique monsters like the "Blade Jade" encountered during the demo.

Venturing into The Howling Plateau, the Wizard encountered a crying girl to be rescued, but it was simply a trick of some Dark Cultists who appeared with minions abound. So indeed we'll see a variety of monsters appearing throughout the game.

From then the demo moved on to the Witch Doctor. We got to see a new skill called Corpse Spiders, which calls forth a cadaver from the ground just to vomit up spiders that in turn go onward against your foes. (That'll shock the townies.) In lieu of Mana Orbs, which have been removed from the game now, the Witch Doctor has a skill called Spirit Vessel that also regains Mana back from the Health Orbs you pick up.

A very interesting new skill for this character class is Fetish Army, which brings back those annoying pygmies from the second game-- but this time entirely on your side. A larger version of the Mongrel is also coming with the Gargantuan summoning skill. Parasite, which we've seen before, revives a monster onto your side automatically after you've slain it, but it appears to have to be cast before it perishes.

This time we were on the quest to follow the road to Alcarnus, and it was noted that most outdoor environments are indeed static rather than randomly generated, while dungeon levels do land on the traditional side of randomization. As we were running out of time, we didn't see much more except when the character crossed a checkpoint and when he hit a waypoint that warped the Witch Doctor from "The Canyon Rim Mines" into an area called "The Ruins." And that was the end of the Diablo III demo.

Stay tuned for more and comment in the forums!

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