Blizzcon 2010: <em>Diablo 3</em> demon hunters, PvP, and Protoss iron chefs

Ars runs down the big news to come out of Blizzcon 2010, including a new class for <em>Diablo III</em>, some parody mod maps for <em>Starcraft II</em>, and a day-one digital download of <em>World of Warcraft: Cataclysm</em>.

<a href='http://meincmagazine.com/gaming/news/2010/10/blizzcon-2010-diablo-3-demon-hunters-pvp-and-protoss-iron-chefs.ars'>Read the whole story</a>

 

[EmeraldArcana]

About time WoW was offered as a digital download. I'm tired of being 3 hours behind east coast budders when new expansions launch.

 

[EdipisReks]

I really wish they had brought over the Paladin to DIII. Not having a holy warrior seems weird.

 

[necrosis]

About time WoW was offered as a digital download. I'm tired of being 3 hours behind east coast budders when new expansions launch.

WoW has been a digital download for YEARS. I downloaded it directly from blizzard at least 4-5 years ago when I first played it.

 

[sarumanza]

"With the Cataclysm expansion almost upon us, there wasn't a whole lot of news regarding World of Warcraft. But there is some good news for fans who don't want to leave their house:"

So that is good news for all fans of WoW?

 

[RaveBomb]

I think the new thing is not digital download, but digital PRE-load.

Does anyone know if Diablo will allow you to have "hatless" avatars? My wife likes the Demon Hunter idea, but hates the scarf / hood.

 

[Surge]

About time WoW was offered as a digital download. I'm tired of being 3 hours behind east coast budders when new expansions launch.

It might be 8 now given average download speeds on a popular new game, unless it does a digital pre-load where you can download it a day or two in advance but it doesn't get authorized until midnight on release.

 

[necrosis]

About time WoW was offered as a digital download. I'm tired of being 3 hours behind east coast budders when new expansions launch.

It might be 8 now given average download speeds on a popular new game, unless it does a digital pre-load where you can download it a day or two in advance but it doesn't get authorized until midnight on release.

99.99% sure it will be a torrent so download speeds will not be an issue.

 

[Xipher]

About time WoW was offered as a digital download. I'm tired of being 3 hours behind east coast budders when new expansions launch.

WoW has been a digital download for YEARS. I downloaded it directly from blizzard at least 4-5 years ago when I first played it.

How ever on expansion release days it's always been physical format only, and digital only was released shortly after. Even StarCraft 2 had a 12 hour delay (had to wait till noon PDT) to purchase it digital only.

 

[Elerion Skye]

Hmmm... There's already a DotA clone on SC2, Storm of the Imperial Sanctum. So how does Blizzard's version compare to that?

 

[Kevin Farabee]

It might be 8 now given average download speeds on a popular new game, unless it does a digital pre-load where you can download it a day or two in advance but it doesn't get authorized until midnight on release.

Most of the Cata content from beta has already been pre-loaded into the current 4.0 live client.

On launch day I expect the actual expansion data (or at least 90% of it) will already be on everyone's hard drives and ready to go, requiring little more than an activated account to log in and get going minutes after midnight.

Edit: Regarding Blizzcon itself, very disappointing from a WoW standpoint. You can tell the devs are getting increasingly less excited about each expansion and this year they barely seemed to care. Metzen in particular seems like he's really bored of trying to spin out the same story he's been doing for more than a decade any longer.

 

[Chris In Ars]

Hmmm... There's already a DotA clone on SC2, Storm of the Imperial Sanctum. So how does Blizzard's version compare to that?

Yes, and there are also numerous "left 4 dead" type maps. It will be very interesting to see how the blizzard stacks up against the community.

They also made a special halloween "dota" map for Warcraft 3. Not many, if any, played it though.

I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do.


That Demon Hunter video was the cheesiest trailer I've ever seen.

"...I stand alone!"

Pure cheese.

 

[dferrantino]

About time WoW was offered as a digital download. I'm tired of being 3 hours behind east coast budders when new expansions launch.

WoW has been a digital download for YEARS. I downloaded it directly from blizzard at least 4-5 years ago when I first played it.

How ever on expansion release days it's always been physical format only, and digital only was released shortly after. Even StarCraft 2 had a 12 hour delay (had to wait till noon PDT) to purchase it digital only.

They specifically said at Blizzcon that you'll be able to preload the game and play immediately upon serverup.

 

[AceRimmer]

Until now, I didn't know Blizzard was capable of making videos that suck.

 

[the lidless eye]

(I was at Blizzcon)

Mike was quite clear in the opening ceremonies that it is a digital pre-order. If you order it digitally you can start leveling to 85, get your goblin or worgen on, whatever you want , at midnight pacific time December 7th, once they switch the servers on.

And remember , all of the world changes are happening whether you want them too or not, its only leveling to 85 creating goblin and worgens and such that you would get with the digital download.

Also, I'm not sure where you got that the Dev's seemed bored? Its possible they are just tired of getting asked for a legendary shield, dagger and staff. Also its not like Chris can lay out the whole story during the Lore panel he told us plenty as it is.

(That we are getting a new blue aspect and that Thrall will be involved somehow with the Dragon Flight)

 

[marksmith90046]

BlizzCon was alright, all in all, Blizzard know's how to party. I posted some pictures of the event at La Canvas brand new tech section. WWW.lacanvas.com is the website.

 

[marksmith90046]

Sorry my bad. This is the website of the article for blizzcon 2010!

http://WWW.lacanvas.com/index.php?optio ... &Itemid=72

 

[Ganso]

Hmmm... There's already a DotA clone on SC2, Storm of the Imperial Sanctum. So how does Blizzard's version compare to that?

Blizzard made a lot of new artwork specifically for Blizzard Dota (spells, models, buildings, etc.) they are also going to be using a lot of "classic" blizzard heroes, such as:
The Tauren Marine that launches into space on his outhouse will be playable
Murky the Murloch Marine from WoW will also be playable
Sylvannas, both in High Elf and Forsaken skins
The Maruader Mountain King, a dwarf in a Marauder suit that shoots out thunder hammers
The most awesomest Orc Blade Master ever!

Here's a link to the characters

http://www.playdota.com/forums/332512/o ... haracters/

 

[3ggn0g]

"I stand alone..with my items and unique armor and magic and maybe pets but probably not because I'm like an assassinmixedwithanamazonfromthelastgameand...."

 

[otopico]

So, it is too soon to mention how this still looks like d2? How about Torchlight?
Blizzard will finish this game and it will do well, but is it too much to ask for them to try something new? Aside from WoW, Blizzard has pretty much just recycled the old ideas, dressed them up, and then claimed they were new.

This is my problem with SC2. I have played that game, but we called it Star Craft. Aside from the extra story, it's just the old game updated to look nice. So far, nothing in D3 looks to be ground breaking. Not saying anything is wrong with that, but with the skill set Blizzard has, you would think they could do something a bit more than this.

Maybe I am too old. After playing all of the Warcrafts, Diablos, and StarCrafts, it just seems to me that Blizzard is just phoning it in at this point.

 

[bytegod]

I! STAND ALONE! EVERYTHING THAT I BELIEVE IS FADING!

 

[SO1OS]

I really hope they nerf her skills like crazy before the release. my reasoning : combine the 2 best pvp classes from diablo 2 (amazon and assassin) and you get the demon hunter. she can set traps and use the amazon bow skills......i will have nightmares.

 

[Kevin Farabee]

(Also, I'm not sure where you got that the Dev's seemed bored? Its possible they are just tired of getting asked for a legendary shield, dagger and staff. Also its not like Chris can lay out the whole story during the Lore panel he told us plenty as it is.

(That we are getting a new blue aspect and that Thrall will be involved somehow with the Dragon Flight)

Anyone who had read any of the books over the past 5 years knew Kalecgos was going to be the new magic aspect already, simply because he's the only blue dragon that a sizeable amount of lore and character development exists for besides Malygos (RIP). Not exactly a shocker there. As for Thrall, that did come as a bit of a surprise. However, we could have done a bit less with the snark regarding all the questions about Turalyon, considering how major a character he was pre-WC3.

The questions regarding legendaries shouldn't have even been answered. What I was referring to mainly was the fact that the devs didn't really give satisfactory answers as to the huge and in many cases detrimental changes to classes made in 4.0. Hunters and holy paladins, for instance, are hurting badly and have been since early beta yet there doesn't seem to be any good reason for the changes other than "we wanted to do something different."

 

[the lidless eye]

If the fans can snark the devs, he can Snark back, at least that's my opinion.

They could have also just held up a sign everytime someone asked about this character or that character that said "We haven't forgotten about them, they still exist, but aren't in the game yet"

As we aren't 85 yet, I wouldn't worry too much who is "nerfed" or not. The system they put in place was meant to exist for level 85 as the cap, not 80. If they are still in that state when everyone is 85, then I'd complain.

 

[SO1OS]

As we aren't 85 yet, I wouldn't worry too much who is "nerfed" or not. The system they put in place was meant to exist for level 85 as the cap, not 80. If they are still in that state when everyone is 85, then I'd complain.

If that was meant as a reply to me, then I'll just say that I like to get my complaints heard early. Saves time.

 

[neodorian]

So, it is too soon to mention how this still looks like d2? How about Torchlight?
Blizzard will finish this game and it will do well, but is it too much to ask for them to try something new? Aside from WoW, Blizzard has pretty much just recycled the old ideas, dressed them up, and then claimed they were new.

New is fine but fun is great. I loved Diablo 1 and Diablo 2. I would love a well-made follow up to those with new graphics, new loot, a few updates, etc. It's not like the games that seem to put out new "sequels" every 6-12 months and charging full game price for what amounts to some new levels. It's been 10 years since Diablo 2 came out and I would honestly be fine buying a sequel that is more modernized followup than complete revamp.

 

[brionl]

About time WoW was offered as a digital download. I'm tired of being 3 hours behind east coast budders when new expansions launch.

WoW has been a digital download for YEARS. I downloaded it directly from blizzard at least 4-5 years ago when I first played it.

How ever on expansion release days it's always been physical format only, and digital only was released shortly after. Even StarCraft 2 had a 12 hour delay (had to wait till noon PDT) to purchase it digital only.

They specifically said at Blizzcon that you'll be able to preload the game and play immediately upon serverup.

The 4.0.3 patch basically is Cataclysm with a couple of features turned off, so you'll have all of the data a couple weeks befor the official launch date when they load that patch.

 

[Kevin Farabee]

As we aren't 85 yet, I wouldn't worry too much who is "nerfed" or not. The system they put in place was meant to exist for level 85 as the cap, not 80. If they are still in that state when everyone is 85, then I'd complain.

Right now, in beta, 3 of the 11 or o raid encounters being tested require "stacking on the boss" ala Marrowgar in ICC. That's 85 content, not 80. This means that hunters are going to get sat for a lot of bosses in the first tier of raid content unless they do something about the "minimum range" issue that they seem content not to touch. That's pretty broken.

 

[davis]

That Demon Hunter video was the cheesiest trailer I've ever seen.

"...I stand alone!"

Pure cheese.

Glad to see I wasn't the only one thinking this. Also, yet another stereotypical Female character type is o so boring.

I wanna see a fat or old person as the hero.
Edit: In the picture in the article, she's missing important armor around her lady-parts in the first sketch, and in the third while she finds some, she seems to have ripped her tights in the process of putting it on. Oh my.

 

[3ggn0g]

So, it is too soon to mention how this still looks like d2? How about Torchlight?
Blizzard will finish this game and it will do well, but is it too much to ask for them to try something new? Aside from WoW, Blizzard has pretty much just recycled the old ideas, dressed them up, and then claimed they were new.

This is my problem with SC2. I have played that game, but we called it Star Craft. Aside from the extra story, it's just the old game updated to look nice. So far, nothing in D3 looks to be ground breaking. Not saying anything is wrong with that, but with the skill set Blizzard has, you would think they could do something a bit more than this.

Maybe I am too old. After playing all of the Warcrafts, Diablos, and StarCrafts, it just seems to me that Blizzard is just phoning it in at this point.

Yeah I'll agree that SC2 is more like Starcraft HD, but that's a good thing. The SC gameplay is so freaking tight that if they changed anything too much, it'd be an unbalanced mess for the multiplayer.

 

[dygarjones]

The past Diablo's pulled me in with something magical that still makes me want to load them up for nostalgia. I have the D1 Tristram soundtrack on my phone and listen to it frequently.

I still hope they apply a little of that old Blizzard magic to D3 but so far the new videos just look like Torchlight, which, while a lot of fun for a short time just got boring fast.

 

[Mux]

For those who think Diablo III "looks like Torchlight", look again. Closer. Closer.

If you still can't tell the difference, just shut your monitor off now. For good.

 

[Autobot5]

Yeah I'll agree that SC2 is more like Starcraft HD, but that's a good thing. The SC gameplay is so freaking tight that if they changed anything too much, it'd be an unbalanced mess for the multiplayer.

Don't really agree with that - there are a lot of subtle changes from SC1 to SC2 that make it more than just SC HD. Starcraft 2 is more macro intensive and includes some shortcuts to help micro. There are also less active abilities, with only 1 "caster" per race, and key units are missing or have been replaced (medics -> marauders). This changes the whole feel of some races, and makes the game a lot more than just SC HD.

Sure it's still Starcraft, but it is most definitely Starcraft 2.

 

[NavyGothic]

Honestly, I think they should just scrap the Q&A sessions entirely.

The discussion panels tend to be interesting, but Q&A is mostly, "Hey why did you nerf <my class> zomg?", "When are you going to fix <pet peeve that no one else has even noticed>?", "Do you have any plans for <feature that has already been announced>?".

And yeah, the Demon Hunter video sucked. Blizzard can do much better than that.

 

[Yzoral]

Is it just me or Diablo III is looking more and more like WoW instead of a atmospheric horror game? This is a pure example of flanderization...

 

[Jason Honingford]

I guess it's a sign you're too old of a geek to appreciate a "hunter" who wears 1500lbs of plate armor which IN MY DAY would have weighed you down too much to even stand up. Thank you ars for the joke about PvP in DIII hahaha seeing as how they killed PvP in WoW years ago. Cataclysm looks cool though -- I might buy it for my girlfriend and put her on a PvP server since she's a big fan of casual gaming and doesn't like engaging other players.

 

[Ganso]

Is it just me or Diablo III is looking more and more like WoW instead of a atmospheric horror game? This is a pure example of flanderization...

During all related Diablo 3 conferences they would randomly make a Rainbow pop up during the presentation, it was funny as hell especially because people are still hung up on the "looks like WoW" shtick

 

[Killing Time]

That Demon Hunter video was the cheesiest trailer I've ever seen.

"...I stand alone!"

Pure cheese.

Glad to see I wasn't the only one thinking this. Also, yet another stereotypical Female character type is o so boring.

I wanna see a fat or old person as the hero.
Edit: In the picture in the article, she's missing important armor around her lady-parts in the first sketch, and in the third while she finds some, she seems to have ripped her tights in the process of putting it on. Oh my.

later in the game her armor is sure to get hot and itchy i'm betting.

 

[emag]

What, you can't move and shoot at the same time in Diablo III? Smash TV had that twenty years ago. </snark>

 

[lost_packet]

Blizzard will finish this game and it will do well, but is it too much to ask for them to try something new? Aside from WoW, Blizzard has pretty much just recycled the old ideas, dressed them up, and then claimed they were new.

I'm sick of new crap that falls short. I want remakes of really cool older games with HD graphics, new models, and new maps, etc... I'm glad Blizzard is not afraid to make updated versions of Starcraft and Diablo. The same thing applies to Valve and Team Fortress.