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Be vewy vewy quiet; we're hunting demons: A look at Diablo III's Demon Hunter
The world of Diablo III is a dark and dismal one indeed. Between the whole hell-leaking-into-earth thing and the utterly ludicrous number of undead monstrosities roaming the land, the denizens of Sanctuary have it rough. Thankfully, a number of survivors have risen up and established themselves as Demon Hunters who utilize grace, agility, and lots of explosives to rid the world of its demonic taint. For players planning to join the ranks of these Demon Hunters, Blizzard has released a brand-new video highlighting the many skills available to the class. If flurries of crossbow bolts, flaming shuriken boomerangs, and the dexterity of a lynx on crack appeal to you at all, then the Demon Hunter is probably right up your alley. But hey, you don't have to take our word for it; go check out the full video and decide for yourselves.
Diablo III launches May 15th [Updated]
At long last we have a release date for the third entry in Blizzard's unholy trinity. Yes, kids, Diablo III will be yours on May 15th, and even though there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the title of late, we're pretty sure that it's still going to sell like hotcakes. According to our fine friends at Joystiq, you can pre-purchase the game immediately via Battle.net, and doing so will ensure that you're "ready to play the minute the servers go live." Blizzard would also like to bribe remind its fans that Diablo III can be had for free by signing up for an annual World of Warcraft pass (and that deal lasts through May 1st). [Update: On this news, analysts are now predicting that the game will sell 5 million units in its first year.]
Diablo III shelves PvP to make launch
When a release date is nearing and a crucial game feature is falling behind, what is a studio to do? If you're Blizzard and you're looking at the fate of one of the biggest titles of the year, you yank the offending feature from the game so as to not delay the entire product. Blizzard announced today that Diablo III's PvP is not living up to the studio's standards and that it will be removing it for now in order to keep the game on track for launch. So why not just hold back the game until it's completely ready? In the words of the studio, "We ultimately felt that delaying the whole game purely for PvP would just be punishing to everyone who's waiting to enjoy the campaign and core solo/co-op content, all of which is just about complete." Diablo III's PvP functionality will be restored at an unspecified later date with multiple Arena maps, achievements, personal progression, and a matchmaking system. [Thanks to Marc for the tip!]
Rumor: Diablo III releasing April 17th
The rumor mill is churning fast and furious today as heavy speculation is swirling about a possible release date for Diablo III: April 17th. This comes from Italian website mmorpgitalia, which reports that retailers are clearing space for their shelves on the 17th after a tip from Activision Italy. Blizzard, of course, is declining to comment on the rumor, although Game Director Jay Wilson says that an "all-important announcement" -- most likely the release date -- is imminent. When asked on Twitter how soon the announcement would arrive (on a scale of 1-10), Wilson replied with a simple "9." Tomorrow begins the CeBIT 2012 trade show in Europe, and Blizzard will be present to show off the Diablo III beta. If an announcement is to be made, this event might make a good a platform as any from which to tell the gaming world which day it's going to need to take off from work.
Diablo III will see you in hell... mode
If you were among the players put out because Diablo III seems too pretty to be hardcore, you'll be happy to know that Blizzard hopes to re-earn your love, not with art but with gameplay. The company has released a video in which key DIII devs talk up the game's nightmare, hell, and inferno difficulty modes. They promise a veritable ass-kicking complete with hours of wiping and mounting repair costs. Quoth the devs: "Normal mode was pretty casual. It's very fun -- you're one-clicking and you're having laughs. Once you get into Nightmare mode, it starts turning into all business. [...] The game really starts [...] at Nightmare. [...] The way the game is tuned right now, people have no idea what they're getting themselves into." Perhaps not coincidentally, the Battle.net World of Warcraft blog is now daring gamers to join a community-driven Iron Man WoW Challenge. Participants eschew luxuries like buffs, talents, and grouping and charge into the world to see just how high they can level. Death, of course, means game over for the hardest of the hardcore. The Diablo III vid is embedded just behind the break!
Encrypted Text: Examining the rogue's assassin ancestry
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions you'd like to see covered here. If you start looking into the history of the rogue class, you end up reaching several dead ends. The reason is that a rogue who's easy to track or trace isn't much of a rogue at all. We specialize in disappearing, which makes rogue family trees notoriously difficult to map. Garona Halforcen is often considered to be the mother of the rogue class, executing one of the earliest and most daring acts of assassination and regicide in Azeroth's history. The truth is that if we want to find our spiritual beginnings, we have to look back even further than Garona and even further away than Azeroth. The true ancestor of today's rogue class first found life eons ago, in another realm, known only as Sanctuary. There, the assassin class stood against the three Prime Evils, defeating the Burning Hell's greatest powers with elegance and subterfuge. The rogues of WoW were inspired by the assassins of Diablo II, and that influence can still be felt today.
The Perfect Ten: Unusual MMO weapons
Swords. Staffs. Maces. Spears. Wands. Bows. Crossbows. Double-crossbows. Hammers. Wolverine claws. Daggers. Axes. Deadly? Yes. Fashionable? Not so much. I mean, really. A two-handed sword is so 1299. Now, a deep dish Chicago-style pizza with the works flung into an enemy's gullet -- that's progressive thinking! Because I'm deeply bored with the usual suspects in most MMO armories, I wanted to spend a day praising devs who said, "Screw it. We're going weird, and we're not going to regret it, even when our bosses call us into their offices demanding why such lunacy ended up in a professional game." So forget everything you think you know about weapons because your pitiful armament has yet to scratch the surface of the wild, wild universe of things that can be used to kill you in game. This Perfect Ten column is sponsored by Grizzly Bear Rocket Launchers, Ltd. after the jump.
The Perfect Ten: Death penalties
Death penalties belong in that tier of MMO discussion topics that is reserved for the most controversial subjects, along with skimpy armor and the New Game Enhancements. Death, as we know well, comes for us all with big, nasty, pointy teeth. But for some reason, we are not fans of it, neither in real life nor in online games. One of the reasons death penalties continue to be a divisive subject is that they used to be brutal beyond belief in MMOs back in the olden days of yore. As the MMO genre progressed, the penalties were lightened and experimented with in an effort to avoid driving players barking mad because of them. So we've ended up with two camps: one group of gamers who campaign for harsh death penalties to make the world seem exciting and dangerous, and another group that campaigns for lenient penalties in the interests of sanity. So today we're going to go through 10 of the most-used types of death penalties in MMOs, starting with the most brutal and ending with the most lenient. Stay for the after-column party as well, as you'll get a taste for this debate in the comments section!
Former Blizzard executive named president of Gazillion Entertainment
What's left to do for the man who created Blizzard's seminal Diablo series? A promotion to president and COO of a major gaming company is probably near the top of the list, and Gazillion Entertainment has done just that with former Blizzard North president David Brevik. Prior to assuming his new duties, Brevik served as the project leader for Gazillion's upcoming Marvel Universe title, and also was responsible for lead design and lead programming aspects of both Diablo and Diablo II during his tenure at Blizzard. Brevik dropped a hint as to one possible future for online gaming (as well as Gazillion's focus going forward) in a company press release detailing his appointment. "Gazillion is committed to developing top-tier online games. The future will be defined by console-quality games in the web browser, and we believe we can make this a reality today," he said.
Captain's Log: Socializing and the quiet of space in STO
The Star Trek universe caters to a whole lot of different interests. You've got your basic sci-fi fan, who enjoys the shows and movies but doesn't get super into them. You've also got your movie buffs, who perk up for showings of Wrath of Khan or Nemesis (ha!). Futurists marvel at the prophetic nature of old-school Trek tech, and casual fans used to flip on the boob tube to scope out Seven of Nine's ram scoops. And of course, Star Trek has its die-hard fans, the Trekkers. (What's wrong with calling them "Trekkies," again?) I noticed a handful at New York Comic Con, traipsing about in their uniforms, snapping group pictures, scanning the Anime Festival next door for signs of intelligent life. And that got me to thinking about socializing in Star Trek Online. Why is it often so lonely in space?
Still clicking: Our exclusive interview with the Mythos dev team
Considering Mythos' stormy post-Flagship past and its relatively low profile over the past half year, we were pleased to see the team at Redbana unveil a website revamp last month, complete with a slew of vibrant new screenshots to tease the upcoming closed beta. The infrastructure revealed in the images suggests that the game has come a long way since we last checked in with the team; although many players might once have pigeon-holed Mythos as "just another Diablo clone," it's now maturing into a hybrid MMORPG that seems to have as much in common with Blizzard's other fantasy game as with the click-fests of yesteryear. Curious, we commandeered the team at Redbana in order to ask about the progress of the game. Meet up with us after the break as we discuss the transition to Redbana, overcoming the Diablo stigma, camera perspectives, map travel, character customization, and the likelihood that Mythos will be free-to-play. Oh, and did I mention you can play satyrs and cyclopes?!
Diablo 2 summons its tenth anniversary
Grab your golems, pick up your Paladins and drag out your Druids, because Diablo 2 is now officially ten years old. Originally released on June 29, 2000 the game is still being played today on Blizzard's Battle.net. What's more, Blizzard is still updating Diablo 2, with the most recent patch having been launched in March. Let's just hope it's not another ten years before Diablo 3 shows up.
Diablo 2, Warcraft 3 bans reach Icelandic proportions
Blizzard, in preparation for the launch of StarCraft 2 and the new Battle.net framework, recently banned over 320,000 Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3 players that violated the company's Terms of Use by using hacks and third-party tools. According to a census taken earlier this year, there are currently 317,630 people living in Iceland. Let's take a moment to appreciate the fact that so many people play Blizzard's games, its moderators can ban more people than the entire population of the 175th largest country on the planet. Folks from all corners of the world -- not just Icelanders -- who were found to be using illicit means of self-improvement while playing the two games had the CD key tied to the cheated game in question revoked for 30 days, while repeat offenders were banned permanently. It's not worth it, our dear readers! Keep it legit! [Via WoW.com]
Blizzard bans 320,000 WarCraft III and Diablo II players
Blizzard appears to be cleaning house in preparation for its StarCraft II release as well as its Battle.net revamp. In a recent announcement on the service's forums, Blizzard rep Bashiok revealed that over 300,000 accounts were punished for violations of the terms of service for Warcraft III and Diablo II for using hacks and illegal third-party tools (which are essentially hacks). For those of you who have had past experience with Battle.net, these numbers probably don't surprise you. The network has had a long reputation of being fairly easy on people using hacks as Blizzard tends to save up over a long period of time in order to do a massive batch of bans at once. This means that those who are using hacks have a long period of time to abuse the system before anything is done about it. The hacks for some games were rampant enough that other players began using hacks that detect other hacks. Regardless of the reason behind using a hack, it is still against the terms of service and means if you get caught, you're out.
World of WarCrafts: Sculpting an interest in art
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. It's all about making time for what you love to do -- so says Jason Babler, a former WoW player who's nurturing a love for sculpting fantasy and gaming characters, with eye-popping results. It took four months of patient, part-time work to create this troll hunter, based on artwork from Upper Deck. Jason's managed to combine a passion for gaming with a lifelong interest in fantasy, carving out a hobby that he describes as his way to get away from the computer and develop the art skills he's always wanted. Read more about Jason's sculpture, after the gallery and break. %Gallery-83882%
The Digital Continuum: Torchlight my fire
For the past week I've been delving deep into the dungeons of Runic Games' Torchlight and found the experience to be nothing short of joyous. Granted, like many other people I also wish some kind of co-op shipped with the game (even over LAN) but thankfully the developer's next project will be an MMO built upon the foundation laid down by last week's release. My joy for this game most definitely bleeds into its MMO incarnation, which has led to far too much thinking on additions I'd like to see made. So this week, I'm going to get them all off my chest in the hopes that I'll stop obsessing over them. Of course, there's never a guarantee with these things.
The Digital Continuum: Torchlight my fire, page 2
Torchlight's setting is somewhat fantasy with a little bit of steampunk -- right now I'd say it feels something like 75/25 leaning towards a unique fantasy world. Can we get a little more steampunk, though? Of all the many strengths it possesses, story and setting are the game's biggest weakness.
The Daily Grind: Getting Torchlight?
Today is the launch of Runic Games' Torchlight, although you probably know them best as the guys who worked on Mythos. The MMO version of Torchlight isn't out for another 18 months or so, but you can get a taste of it as of today, which is of course the game's release date -- imagine that! Not only is the game developed by the former Mythos team, it's also headed by Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer, co-designers of Diablo and Diablo II. Speaking of those games, we hope you liked their music, because the same man who wrote it worked on Torchlight as well. The pedigree is definitely high, and from our hands-on experience it shines through exceedingly well. So will you be getting Torchlight? At the low price of $20, it's not a hard sell considering the quality of the game. Plus, with full mod tools being included in that price, free fan-made content should be falling down from the heavens in no time flat.
Patch 3.2.2 PTR: Pandaren and Lil' K.T. pets revealed in latest build
Like Diablo's Cow Level, the Pandaren have almost mythic status within World of Warcraft since that memorable and almost plausible April Fool's Day prank. Blizzard has paid homage to that by tucking a pet Pandaren Monk into the latest build (10371) of patch 3.2.2 which has just gone live on the PTR.Boubouille over at MMO Champion has once again been rooting around the patch files and he came across the first model of the aforementioned pet. Isn't he cute? Heavy on the Chinese aethetics, we have no idea how you'll be able to get this little guy. While datamining, Boubouille also discovered another hitherto unmentioned pet, Lil' K.T.. Yes, you too can have your own pocket-sized Kel'Thuzad, a tiny trophy-sized lich to call your very own! Again, we're not sure how you get one. Here's hoping he drops off his full-sized self in Naxx but who knows? For now we just have a spell note in the files And as a note, please remember that Pandarens are not a playable race, nor is this an indication they will ever be added to WoW. 2n - 1 go left, 2n go right. I don't see enough DoTs! More DoTs now! Are you ready for the return of Onyxia? With the Brood Mother being revitalized as a 10 and 25 person raid, you'll need to be sure you know everything that's coming at you. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2.2 will make sure your set for the next patch!
The Queue: There is a Cow Level
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.There is no cow level.Repeat that three times.But if I was designing WoW I'd make sure there'd be some kind of cow level. After all who doesn't want to slaughter some bovines from hell?Osul asked..."What's a good reputation to grind for a newly 80 Ret Paladin?"
