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Diablo III returns to the world of Sanctuary twenty years after the events of Diablo II with a new generation of heroes that must defeat the demonic threat from Hell.

Introduction

It has been twenty years since the events of Diablo II. Of those who faced the Lords of Hatred, Terror, and Destruction in the battle over the fate of Sanctuary, there are few still living who can bear to remember the horrors that the Prime Evils wrought upon the world. And of those who did not witness the terrible events firsthand, most believe the stories to be little more than myth. But something evil is stirring once again in Tristram, and it may already have claimed its first victim: Deckard Cain.

Features

  • Explore a fully-realized Sanctuary--the living, breathing gothic fantasy world of Diablo III rendered in gorgeous 3D.
  • Battle the unholy forces of the Burning Hells with all-new character classes like the otherworldly Witch Doctor, or with re-imagined warriors from Diablo's past, such as the fierce Barbarian.
  • Rain Hell on your enemies wielding the interactive environment as a weapon: lay cunning traps, turn destructible objects against your foes, and use environmental obstacles to your advantage--all powered by the Havoc physics system.
  • Experience the intensity of multiplayer Diablo III over an all-new, wickedly-enhanced Battle.net platform with numerous enhancements to make connecting with your friends easier--and cooperative gameplay more fun.
  • Unlike the previous potion heavy health systems of past Diablos, in Diablo lll enemies drop orbs when they are killed that when picked up restore a small amount of health.
  • The returning rune system allows the player to modify skills and are randomly dropped by monsters. They can be attached to each skill like an item and have the ability to completely change the skill.

Characters

Diablo III will feature five different character classes, and unlike previous installments in the series, players can now select the gender of their character, rather than each class having a singular appearance. Only four of the five classes have been revealed so far:

Barbarian

The Barbarian is a large, unstoppable brute that resides in Mount Arreat. At first glance the Barbarians may seem  like mindless, blood-thirsty beasts that lack emotion and civility. However, Abd al Hazir, a renowned historian that travels the world of Sanctuary has come to know these people as noble men and women that have an unrelenting dedication to their warrior lifestyle. The Barbarians have a sworn duty to protect their mountainous homeland, as they believe it contains a sacred relic that is the key to their civilization. 

As you might expect, the barbarian uses brute force and dual weapons to inflict maximum damage on his enemies. He also uses grunts and war cries to boost his fighting ability and defense. The barbarian prefers the use of melee weapons such as axes and swords to engage his enemies.

The Barbarian is the first character class in the series to appear in more than one game, also having been one of the five original classes available in Diablo II, though Blizzard promises that the new Barbarian will not just be a complete copy of the original.

   Witch Doctor           

The Witch Doctor  belongs to the legendary umbaru race. The umbaru reside in the lower Teganze, a dense jungle  area in the Diablo universe. The umbaru are seen as a more primitive race, their buildings and cities are usually under developed, and their knowledge of the world outside the Teganze borders is limited. They regularly engage in tribal warefare that is sparked by ritualistic differences amongst their different tribes. 

That being said, the Umbaru and especially the Witch Doctor, are masters of the dark arts, having the ability to use dark magic and summon spirits to defeat their enemies. In the game, the Witch doctor is a more passive character that summons spirits and zombies and uses ranged magic to fight enemies. 
 
It's believed that the Witch Doctor is a replacement of Diablo II's Necromancer class, as the two classes appear to be very similar in play style.

Wizard

Native of Xiansai, the Wizard is a powerful mage that utilizes elemental magic to do her bidding. The Wizard has the ability to manipulate fire, lightning as well as having the ability to alter the fabric space and time. Although the Wizard has weak defense, her ranged attacks keep her at a safe distance away from enemies.  Male Wizard

The Wizard replaces Diablo II's Sorceress class, which was itself merely a female version of Diablo I's Sorcerer class with revamped abilities.

Jay Wilson the lead designer hinted that of the next characters to be announced one will be "hated by the fans", supposedly due to it resembling a former class. Instead, the next class revealed was the Monk (detailed below), which is completely unlike any class seen before. Although nothing has been confirmed yet many fans are speculating the return of the Paladin, or a new 'battle-mage' class. In addition, a long-range class, like Diablo's Rogue or Diablo II's Amazon, is yet to be announced. However, it has been confirmed that the Barbarian will be the only class from a former game to be reused in the initial release of Diablo III, though Blizzard has not commented on the possibility of other classes returning in expansion packs or downloadable content.
 

Monk

The Monk is a melee class that is said to replace Diablo II's Assassin class. The Monk's play style is based around the use of combos similar to those of fighting games and the character is supposedly a lot faster than the other melee class, the Barbarian. The skills that are known so far are Crippling Wave, Impenetrable Defense, Exploding Palm, Seven-Sided Strike and Way of the Hundred Fists.
 

April Fool's 

Every year on April 1st, Blizzard makes joke announcements about all their games, and in 2009 the April Fool's Day announcement for Diablo III revealed the supposed fourth class; the Archivist
essentially a combat librarian.
Archivist
Archivist


"These brave souls wade into battle wielding tome and quill, armoured not in ensorcelled plate or links of chain, but in the knowledge of generations past. These Archivists fight not only for our future, but for our past as well. " 

Archivists have powerful skills like "Lorenado", which unleashes a miniature vortex consisting of ancient tomes that batters the enemy into oblivion.  "Quest Bolt" removes an enemy from a battle without actually killing them by transforming them from a hostile monster into a quest giver (parodying the exclamation points used in Diablo II to mark quest givers, but made more popular by the use of the same visual in World of Warcraft) Finally, Blizzard demonstrated the Archivist's ultimate weapon, the "Shush!" spell, which releases a demand for silence so powerful that all the noisy monsters in the area drop dead immediately. Apparently the main drawback to playing an Archivist would have been their frailty; at the end of the first two videos, a single enemy gets in a single hit on the Archivist, and that hit is enough to kill the unfortunate hero. At the end of the third video, despite Shush! having killed all the monsters, the Archivist inexplicably died as well, exploding into gibs as a tip of the hat to the non-serious nature of the class.

Notably, elements of previous April Fool's jokes have made it into the final versions of some of Blizzard's products; the Pandaren race, for example,  announced for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, made an appearance in-game in the form of the neutral Pandaren Brewmaster hero. It has therefore been theorized that the Archivist or his abilities will make some sort of appearance in the final game, although it should be noted that adding a single unit to an RTS as a joke is a very different proposition than adding an entire character class to an RPG as a joke, making playable Archivists extremely unlikely.

 
Skill Trees

 In Diablo III, as in Diablo II, each class has three separate skill trees.  There are six levels of what they call Tiers per tree.  The Tiers consists of Activated skills and Passive skills.  Every level you gain 1 skill point.  After five skill points used you gain access to the next tier level.  As it stands only the Barbarian, Wizard and Witch Doctor have fleshed out trees.  The Monk only has a few confirmed powers.  The Monk will be listed here when its trees are filled out more.

Barbarian                                                                                                                                

  
 Barbarian's skill tree.  Fan reproduction
 Barbarian's skill tree.  Fan reproduction



 
 
 
 
 

Wizard

Wizard's  skill tree.  Fan reproduction
Wizard's  skill tree.  Fan reproduction

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Witch Doctor

 
Witch Doctor's skill tree.  Fan reproduction
Witch Doctor's skill tree.  Fan reproduction

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(Remember this can and most likely will all change.)      

Skill description

Barbarian
Bash: A powerful attack that does a bonus % of weapon damage
Battle Cry:  Shouts out a warning, increasing defense of all nearby party members
Battle Rage: increases damage done and increases critical damage done.
Cleave: The Barbarian swings his sword laterally, eviscerating multiple enemies in close range.
Enrage: The Barbarian throws himself into a reckless rage, increasing Fury gained but also increasing the damage he receives.
Frenzy:  A stacking ability that increases weapon damage and attack speed of attacks
Furious Charge: Charge directly at an enemy, smashing everything in the way
Ground Stomp: The Barbarian pounds the ground causing shock-waves to travel along the ground, stunning nearby enemies.
Hammer of the Ancients:  A massive attack that has a increased chance to critically hit
Ignore Pain: Reduce all damage taken for a short amount of time.
Leap: A giant leap that enables the barbarian to avoid his enemies.
Onslaught:  While active Onslaught increases attack speed but drains Fury (the barbarians mana)
Revenge: A skill that is only usable after being hit.  The Barbarian Slams the ground dealing damage to all around and regaining some health in the process.
Seismic Slam: A shock-wave that travels linearly toward target enemies, dealing massive damage to them and anything in its path.
Taunt: The Barbarian mocks his target into engaging him in to melee combat.
Terrifying Shout : A intense war cry that enhancing damage done by all nearby party members.
Whilrwind: Swirl in a cyclone, delivering attacks to everything in his path.


Witch Doctor

Wall of Zombies:  Erupting out of the ground zombies form a wall, attacking any enemies that get close.
Fire bats:  Bats fly down from just above the Witch Doctors head and pass by his hands, at that point they are set a blaze only to smash into anything that gets in their way.  This spell has a cone area effect and will continue until the player releases the casting button or until he runs out of mana.
FireBomb: The Witch Doctor has the ability to hurl an explosive ball of fire at his enemies that deals massive damage to the target unit and nearby enemies.
Horrify: The Witch Doctor conjures up a horrifying image that sends his enemies fleeing in panic, which gives the Witch Doctor enough time to attack his enemies as they flee.
Locust Swarm: Summons a swarm of locust that deals damage on multiple targets; the swarm of locusts can jump from one enemy to another depending on the density of enemies in a given area.
Mass Confusion: Causes enemies to attack each other.
Plague of Toads:  Toads are summoned forth and hop forwards slightly spreading out the farther they get away.  If the toads make contact with a enemy the toads pop and splatter poison on them.  If the toads do not hit anything they will pop on their own leaving a pool of poison on the ground that will damage any who tread over it.
Sacrifice:  With a snap of his fingers the Witch Doctor can force his pets to explode dealing massive damage to all around its former location.
Soul Harvest: Allows the Witch Doctor to capture the souls of his enemies; presumably these souls can be conjured up to fight for the Witch Doctor using another skill.
Spider Statue:  A statue is summoned out of the ground in the shape of a spider.  Any enemy that gets near the Spider Statue will find themselves covered in spiders.  The spiders deal poison damage to enemies as long as they stay within close proximity of the Statue.
Summon Mongrel: The Witch Doctor calls forth a zombie dog in which he can imbue with another spell, like locust swarm or firebomb giving the mongrel extra damage to its attacks.  The Witch Doctor can have up to 3 mongrels summoned at one time.

Wizard

Acid Cloud
: A cloud of acid drops on target area dealing acid damage to all.  Targets suffer more damage the longer they stay in the cloud .
Arcane Orb: An orb of pure energy on an area    explodes on contact dealing arcane damage to all enemies in the blast area. Critical hits silence targets for 4 sec.
Blizzard: The Wizard calls down shards of ice to pelt an area dealing damage per second. Critical hits freeze targets.
Charged Bolt: electricity randomly travels across the ground dealing damage to targets that hit and stunning ones that get critically hit.
Disintegrate: Focuses a "beam" of pure energy on enemies that increases in power and lethality over the time that its cast. 
Electrocute: Casts a lightning attack that deals a wide range of damage and can strike multiple enemies.
Frost Nova:  An explosion of ice shards emanating from the Wizard damaging nearby enemies.  Projectiles have an additional chance of a critical hit. Critical hits freeze targets.
Hydra: Summons a hydra  out of the ground that shoot fire balls like a automated turret
Magic Missile: A basic attack. Fires a magic missile at enemies. Critical hits silence targets for 4 secs.
Magic Weapon: Imbue a weapon with magic causing it to deal more damage.
Meteor Storm:  Meteorites slam the targeted region dealing damage to all in the area.
Mirror Image: The Wizard creates multiple illusions of  herself to distract attackers.
Ray of Frost:  A beam of cold energy slams the target. Critical hits freeze targets.
Slow Time: Creates a dome like structure around the Wizard that slows everything in the vicinity of the character.
Spectral Blades: spectral blades slice each enemy that are a short distance in front of the Wizard
Stone skin:  The Wizard is covered in stone armor that absorbs damage.
Storm Armor:  Surround the Wizard in electrical energy that deals electrical damage automatically to an attacker.
Temporal Armor:  The wizard summons a fluctuating protective shell. Every six seconds it dissipates only to reappear six seconds later.  The armor stops all damage from attacks, but is dispelled after absorbing X number of attacks.
Teleport: The Wizard Teleports  to the selected location up to 40 feet away.
Tornado:  Summon a tornado that damages everything in its path.
Wave of Force:  The Wizard project a wave of force outwards, repelling enemies and projectiles.

Controversy

When the first screen shots of the game were revealed on June 28, 2008, numerous fans of the very popular series were disappointed with the visual direction of the game; claiming that it was far too bright and cartoony for the series which is well known for its dark and gritty atmosphere. As a result they formed a petition which demanded a return to what they believed to be the "correct" art direction for the game. When questioned about their feelings on this issue several former Blizzard employees and Diablo II developers/art designers pointed out that Diablo II was a very colorful and vibrant game. In fact it was a huge leap in visual direction. The original Diablo game featured dark dungeons and caverns with Gothic architecture and burning crosses while Diablo II had a very different approach with its bright deserts and colorful adversaries and spell effects. Most of Diablo II took place during the day while the events in the entire Diablo game occurred during the nighttime. As of now Blizzard has not been deterred by this petition. Keith Lee, the lead producer for Diablo III, has been on the record making the statement that "color is your friend" and Diablo III doesn't need to be technically dark and gritty in order to get its point across. To them "dark" is an emotion that can be expressed through much more than color.

These frustrations were further echoed by former Blizzard developer Bill Roper (Diablo, Diablo II) in an interview with VideoGamer.com. While Roper admitted that the current art direction was “understandable” in that it is very Blizzard-esque. He further claimed that “ I liked the darker grittier. I liked the differences in art style, to be honest. So, I think I would personally from a player standpoint prefer that.”

Other than the art direction controversy, some fans of the series and people in the video game business (mainly a Fallout 3 producer) have made the criticism that Blizzard took the "conservative" route by making Diablo III extremely similar to the games that came before (a complaint also leveled against Blizzard's StarCraft II)and they had wished that it were something new and different such as a first person game.
 

System Requirements


PC
  • Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista or Microsoft Windows XP
  • Proccessor: 1.4Ghz or Higher
  • Memory: 1GB or more
  • Graphics: DirectX9 GPU with at least 128MB of dedicated video memory
  • Hard Drive space: 4GB-8GB

Macs
  • Operating System: Mac OS 10.3 (Panther) or later
  • Processor: 1.6Ghz or higher
  • Memory: 1GB or higher (DDR recommended)
  • Graphics: ATI or NVIDIA GPU with at least 128MB or dedicated video memory
  • Hard Drive Space: 4GB-8GB

Game Name Diablo III
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Original US Release
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2011
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Aliases D3, DIII
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