Diablo 3’s Community Manager Bashiok had the following to say on the idea of a trading house somewhat similar to World of Warcraft.

Personally, I rather have the game allow players to set up stalls to sell or offer trade like the vending in Ragnarok Online. Some people might find it annoying to have a sea of merchants hanging around but I believe it gives a sense of a busy and active community.

And, it’s always fun to hunt for a bargain

I’m not sure I understood all of what you said, sorry, it sort of read like stereo instructions written by the guy that scares people away from using the pay phone at the 7-11 down the street.

Just a couple of my own cents on the system. First off we really don’t have a solid plan for any sort of external trading system, that is anything beyond being in the same game with the person. We know we’d like something like that though if at all possible.

Foremost – spamming is bad. I think trade channels usually suck because of the requirement to spam. The amount of time and effort spent just to get your items noticed borders on brain-explosiony. Throw in the lack of easily gauged economy and you’re usually left out in the dark, laughed at, ripped off, etc. Your suggestion seems to mix the idea of an auction house and trade channel, in that you can use a channel in-game to spam, and then have some sort of UI to trade the item. That definitely solves one issue, which is needing to leave the game and just sit in a chat channel. What it doesn’t solve is needing to sit in a chat channel and spam. Sure, you could probably play and spam the channel every once in a while but it’s really not the cleanest approach. You’re still spamming a chat channel, you’re still limited to the people that want to see that spam (ie not many).

Since you brought it up let’s move on to the World of Warcraft’s auction house. World of Warcraft did not invent the auction house trading system. It may have certainly refined it, but an irrational hatred of the game that some of you seem to have really shouldn’t translate to game systems that aren’t original to it. There are some major advantages to an auction house similar to WoW’s. You don’t have to be present being the biggest and best. You can be playing with friends, PvPing, asleep, at school or work, and someone has the ability to see your items, and you have a greater chance to sell/trade them. You don’t have to spam a channel, you don’t have to even be online and playing. That’s HUGE, and really the main reason so many people use trading systems such as websites and forums for Diablo II. You want to focus on playing the game or not playing the game, not sitting around hoping someone wants your item.

It also helps form a visible and easily identified economy. I’m a new player, I got a sword I think it’s probably pretty nice, I can go on an auction house and search for it or similar swords and get an idea of how much it should sell for. In this case being in a trade channel is no better whether it’s in-game or out of game. What you’d probably end up with is people still going to forums and more static styles of trading found on websites, but even then any unified sense of economy is spread thin. Maybe that’s not such a bad system in itself, and an official trading site could work. Of course what you lose either way though, auction house or website, is in-game player interaction. Which is what I assume you’re striving to keep.

When it comes down to it, any change or addition or removal of any systems have to be weighed. Do the positives outweigh the negatives?

I’ll go back to what I said at the beginning and state we don’t know what if any types of trading systems will be in the final game. Maybe there won’t be, it may be that eventually we settle on leaving it Diablo II style. We have some ideas of what would be cool, but at the end of the day we’re not going to do anything that isn’t far and away a more positive change for the game.

What’s your take?

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If you haven’t heard already, Diablo 3 will be introducing a new rune system as well as a respec. Both are apparently aimed for player flexibility. It used to be that runes and gems cannot be recovered once socketed, and that stats and skill points are unrecoverable once used up.

While it was generally not a bad thing to do for casual gamers who just wants to finish the game for its story, it’s absolutely irritating and frustrating for the more hardcore Diablo players. You had to plan and know what your final build will be before even starting the game, or you might end up regretting it when you’ve finally reached Hell level.

Personally, I don’t mind playing other classes for fun or even starting a new char of the same class. It’s always fun to start from scratch when you’re playing in groups during LAN parties and not to mention fair for everyone.

However, there will always be that one main char that you really want to work on. There is never a single perfect build, and as you continue playing you might feel that you would prefer a different build than the one you’re working on. It’s not only true with Diablo, but many other games as well, especially in MMORPGs.

Blizzard came up with an answer in Diablo 3.

The new rune system and the ability to respec would make it a lot more fun, not to mention a hell lot easier (no pun intended). It will encourage players to experiment with new and different builds and most importantly, it allows players to go crazy with them.

The rune system in Diablo 3 is different from the previous games. Runes in Diablo 2 were items that could be slotted into equipments with sockets in order to give it additional bonuses. When combined with other runes in the proper order, it was possible to create runewords.

Runewords gives weapons and armors high boosts and bonuses, and can be used to create some of the most powerful equipments in the game.  These high level runes are hard to obtain and can only be used once. Once you’ve socketed the rune, you can no longer remove it to use in a different set of equipment.

The runes in Diablo 3 are nothing like that.

Rather than giving a boost in stats for items, it actually imbues special abilities or change the nature of a skill. Using a Multistrike rune in a single target skill turns it into an AoE. It becomes possible for a non-offensive spell to dish out damage with the Striking rune. This new rune system allows players to be creative and come up with all sorts of custom build.

The best part of this new rune system?

If you don’t like what you get, change it! You can simply remove the rune from the skill to revert it back to its original form, or you can swap the runes to create a different skill.

Diablo 3 will also give allows you to respec your character, allowing you to reset your stats and skills. Not much is known about this at the moment, but you can expect that it’s not something that you can easily come by, else it will be severely abused. Abuses will always occur one way or another, but I believe the freedom it gives far outweigh the cons.

These updates to the game will allow players to have more fun then frust with their chars and is something I look forward to. After all, it’s more fun to mess around with a single character to find the build that suits you most rather than play a few different chars of the same class only to find that you’re getting sick of doing this over and over, finally ending up sticking to a build that might not really fit your taste.

Or do you perhaps find your enjoyment in that?

Check out this video for a short demonstration on the new rune system in Diablo 3:

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Abd al-Hazir of  Caldeum called the new breed of Sorcerers as uncouth, rebellious and have no respect for others, therefore the term “Wizard” suits them better. I have to disagree.

Wizard is a generic term for magic wielders or magicians. Maybe it’s how I’ve interpreted Wizard based on books and games that I’m familiar with, but Wizards are, by far, more suited towards those with magic powers based on tradition and of controls over the elements. They are poise, grand and elegant. They strive to do less for more.

Sorcerer, on the other hand, more often refers to a dark or fallen Wizard. They are not necessary evil, but they usually have commands over the element of darkness. Sorcerers are unorthodoxed, finding new strength within powers that are forbidden to conventional Wizards.

The term “Sorceress” was a good fit for the magician class in Diablo 2. However, calling the same class a “Wizard” because he or she has no regards for others is strange to say the least.

Wizards would have been an appropriate name if they had grown stronger based on pure effort and diligence. A Sorceror is more likely to make use of dangerous, forbidden magic than a Wizard.

A Warlock is probably a better term.

Warlocks are the male equivalent of Witches, and while not always true, are generally seen as being more eccentric, looks down those inferior to them and are always against those who are stronger. They can be schemers and loves to dabble in dark magic in order to gain more power.

Yes, all these titles are interchangeable, but generally, a Wizard is not a Sorceror with an attitude. Rather, a Warlock would be a more appropriate term for them.

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You should realize by now that there never were any happy endings in Diablo, only temporary reprieve. Sanctuary is doomed to face an eternity of hell and nightmares. If you’ve been paying attention to the storyline in Diablo, you will agree with me.

The first game ended with the hero shoving Diablo’s soulstone into his head with a scream. No one knew what would be his fate until years later when the second game revealed that the mighty hero was easily corrupted by Diablo, merely days after his victory over the Lord of Terror.

Diablo 2 ended with a sense of urgency as well, with the reluctant destruction of the Worldstone by the Archangel Tyrael. We won’t know the full consequences of Tyrael’s action, but we can safely assume that Sanctuary can now be freely accessed by forces from High Heaven and the legions from Hell. After all, one of the functions of the Worldstone was to hide Sanctuary from them. Unfortunately, it didn’t do its job quite as well as what the former Archangel Inarius hoped.

While Diablo 3 is still far from release, it is already made known that the heroes of Diablo 2 met ill fates as well. They all went mad. This time, however, the heroes won a greater victory compared to the first hero. They had bought 20 years of peace from the Prime Evils.

We can safely assume that Diablo 3 will end in a similar manner. The third generation of heroes would fight against the Prime Evils once more, and assuming they end up victorious, will not live long to enjoy the fruits of their hardwork. And the peace, as always, will merely be temporary…

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