What is Diablo III?

[Theotherone]

Okay, I know it's a really stupid question, but I never played Diablo - so is it an online multi-player game or is it single player like Skyrim? Is there a monthly fee like in WoW or Rift? I've hunted around on the internet a bit for information, but haven't really found much, then again in all honesty I didn't try that hard. Any help would be appreciated.

[Airowird]

* hack-and-slash sort of game
* no monthly fee
* you can do all content (on all difficulties) either solo or in co-op mode, with a party of up to 5 people
* monsters HP/damage scale depending on number of people in the game
* mob spawns occasionally have extra abilities, this can go from a group of champions (3-5 elite-like monsters) with e.g. fire damage to a single 'named' mob with minions (e.g. closer to wow boss with adds all at once) that all do knockback or have thorns,...
* bosses can be stunned and sometimes even knocked back because you're simply THAT powerful
* random dungeon layout and mob spawns means every game is different.
* side-dungeons have some extra quest/loot but are not linked to main story line. Often only one of 2-3 of these bonus dungeons can be found within a single game
* item stats are more random, e.g. even a unique that has a guaranteed Strength bonus can have any value in a range of say 200-250.
* item sets have unique bonuses and often look great together
* only some items are class-restricted, but most cross-class items still look different on another char (e.g. sorcerer looks like he's wearing robe while same armor piece on a barbarian may look more like a plate chest)
* when solo playing, you can have a mercenary helping you (templar/tank, scoundrel/rogue or enchantress/mage in D3), they do low damage but are often valuable for slowing effects or just meat shielding, they also have 5 tiers of abilities, always choice between 2 abilities per tier (so even your merc has a talent build!).
* mercs can also equip some items (jewelry & weapons + a special merc-only relic slot)
* healing is done throw health globes that can drop from monster kills (or hitting a boss) and heal everyone
* all abilities have runes (glyph-like stuff) to enhance them
* There are only a limited amount of skill slots available, switching skills cost time (more akin to the WoW MoP talents, but then all active abilities you can have are in there.
* loot drops are personal, only when YOU drop something, it goes into the 'world floor'
* no soulbound items, you can sell what you have used
* AH allow people to use RL cash to buy items and even gold (with a cut to Blizzard ofc)

Think that's most of what I can think of in 3 min

[Theotherone]

Great, thanks.

So there's a world AH so to speak? That part confused me with reagard to a single player game.

[Krenian]

I had to do a double take when I saw the title.

What Airwold said is spot on and yes, there's a world AH.

How it works is the game was made famous (D2 anyway) for it's online play and it's community and how they would trade stuff in chat while they dungeon grinded. It became so popular that Blizzard decided not only would they do a world AH but even give you the option of a Money AH where you would sell items for real cash for people to buy. Although the trading game was always a secondary thing in the game so you can ignore that part, it just goes to show you just how insanely popular the game was.

Otherwise, it's prolly one of the best hack and slash dungeon crawlers that has been made. I urge you to at least try Diablo 2.

[Megawatt]

Any1 know about the collector edition? I have a question about the

Aesthetic Artifact. Any1 know if its a toggle on or off type thing or its some stupid, you get your wings for 5mins on a 1hour CD type thing.

I was against the collectors edition but the wings do look kinda cool but if its only something you rairly get to use, i think i will pass. Oh and Diablo 2 was the bomb. I played the S*it outta it!

I'm going to be soooo tired when i go to work Wednesday and my wife will prob be really annoyed with me for the next week or so. Fun Fun

[mavfin]

Great, thanks.

So there's a world AH so to speak? That part confused me with reagard to a single player game.

Well, the AH is all player-found stuff, no 'new stuff' from Blizzard, and they did it so they'd at least have a 'safe' market for such a thing, after the big outside (shady) markets for D2 items.

Max group is 4, not 5.

It's not really a full-on RPG like Skyrim or NWN. It's a hack-and-slash with a story, and (now) a lot of history for fans of the franchise.

I've got the installer sitting on my HD waiting for tomorrow to install, and play 2 AM Tues my time.