WWI - Diablo 3: Design Philosophy
In this developer panel, Jay Wilson went over the key design concepts of the early Diablo games, and detailed how they would be included and built upon in Diablo 3.
Principally, the developers are keen to stay true to the Diablo experience; “all about owning a big pile of monsters”, but they don’t want to simply remake Diablo 2. Instead, they’re looking to advance the IP, and expand on the role-playing aspect of the game.
While Diablo not only kick started the action role-playing genre, it was also one of the first games to use randomness to bring about massive replayability, in both it’s creature spawns, item drops and dungeon layouts. No two playthroughs of Diablo (or it’s sequel) would be the same. Diablo 3 seeks to improve on this by also introducing random scripted encounters. A patch of field may contain a series of cultists performing a dark ritual on one playthrough, while in another it may be occupied by an abandoned farmhouse with a dark history. Alternatively, it may just be a patch of field. Jay gave no indication of how often such scripted events would appear, but they should go someone to adding even more replayability. Hearing tell of a totally different encounter that you missed is more likely to have you replaying it than the prospect of a different piece of loot.
As mentioned here, they’re looking to move the main focus away from potion usage. Instead, they want the player to use a wide range of their abilities to escape from tricky situations (however, some fans may be pleased to hear that it is still possible to one-skill through the entire game, at least on normal), and the hot bar will go some way to allow for this. Whilst deciding what to do as an alternative to potion usage for health/mana regeneration, they tried a Halo-style recharging health system. However, this just led to players sitting around waiting for their health to recharge, which was counter to what the developers had intended. As such, the globe system introduced vastly reduces downtime, and allows players to stay in the thick of combat for longer, without having to look through their inventory for a potion.
The globes also add an interesting aspect to cooperative play. Using a globe will also heal nearby players, ensuring that a group sticks together, instead of someone storming off ahead. Jay also mentioned that it will be possible to jump into coop whenever you choose, through the improved Battle.net service (though he was tight lipped on how it was actually improved). Group sizes haven’t been fixed yet, but will probably be around 4/5 people, due to the nature of the camera. Also, many will be pleased to know that the same loot will drop for everyone in a party, making ninja looting a thing of the past.
Much work has also been done to improve the role-playing side of things. The new conversation system will add more depth to characters, and while possibly not as revolutionary as some, giving the player a voice will add to the immersion, and make him feel more rooted in the world. Also, the inventory and trading system is being redone, though few details were given. However, they are moving away from a grid based approach for inventory management, which will remove the headache of carefully arranging your loot to carry that one extra item home. Finally, the world itself will be brought to life, with more story and lore; it will no longer be “just a container for monsters”. However, Jay stressed that the story would still be opt-in. If someone just wants to run around hacking things, he’s not going to stop them with 90 minute cut scenes.
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