Diablo III Preview
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Characters were big richly detailed (especially when wearing more elaborate armor), but nicely scaled to the environments. In other words, the characters are big, but can still easily dwarfed by some of the bigger creatures in the game, as the demo proved with that massive spike-wielding demon at the end. While we thought at first that this was a boss due to its sheer bulk and the complexity of its attacks, it was later confirmed this was just a run-of-the-mill mob, the likes of which you can expect to see on a fairly regular basis. In addition to monsters of various sizes, the enemies in the game will also demonstrate a variety of behaviors. During the demo, we saw the Berserker, a large, mace-wielding monster that's equal parts strength and bad attitude. During a post-announcement game design panel on Diablo III, we also saw the skeletal shieldbearer, a slow-moving skeleton wielding a huge shield. Often accompanying larger enemies as support, the shieldbearer will be a tough enemy to deal with, as you'll first have to take out the monster's shield before attacking it proper. As a result, shieldbearers will be ideal support for enemies who are strictly focused on dealing damage.
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In Diablo III, potions will still play a part of the action but their importance has been downplayed thanks to a couple of changes. The first are health globes, which drop off defeated enemies and will serve to boost the health of your character and those around you if you're playing co-operatively. As the developers put it, the idea of enemies dropping health is one that will keep the player moving forward in the game, as opposed to trying to avoid combat. In addition, a new skill toolbar, similar in location to the old potion belt in Diablo II, will make your skills that much more accessible, easily allowing you to switch between skills on the fly. You'll even be able to swap skills quickly using the roller on your mouse for even more ease of use. The result is a game you'll likely be able to play almost completely with your mouse; no more hunting for skills using the "F" keys on your keyboard. One more important addition regarding cooperative play--when a character picks up a health globe, any surrouding allies also benefit from that health globe, which seems like it will encourage players to stick togehter when hacking and slashing their way throught the game. To our ears, it also makes it sound like practically any class will be able to tank effectively (as long as someone is picking up the health globes and standing nearby) but we'll have to see how it plays out as the game develops.
Random dungeons will still be a big part of Diablo III. In fact, randomness will prevail throughout the game (and we mean that in a good way). In addition to having randomly created dungeons to explore, the developers have also introduced random monsters, random loot droops, and new random scripted events into the game to make each playthrough a new experience. In terms of monsters and loot, the stage demo alone was proof of that concept--we saw loads of different types of beasts to fight, from snake-like monsters to hulking brutes like the final big bad beastie. Blizzard didn't go into much detail regarding loot but we do know that they are hard at work creating custom-designed armor and weapons that will look great and get the job done in the field of combat. More tie-ins with lore with higher-level drops have been promised than was the case in Diablo II, with items being one of the development teams key focuses in increasing your feeling of involvement with the story as you progress. During the demo, we saw the Barbarian decked out in a suit of golden armor with an imposing looking helmet, and wielding a pair of axes, one enchanted with frost, the other, with electricity. We also saw him wielding a fire-enchanted two-handed mace, trailing fire impressively as he spun through a crowd of skeletons.
