d3 Recap of Diablo Immortal World and Q&A BlizzCon 2018 Panel

[Zadina 923]

Wyatt Cheng and Matthew Berger talked about the lore of Diablo Immortal and showcased some of its zones, instanced dungeons and of course its classes.

Given the backlash the announcement of Diablo Immortal caused, the panel started with Wyatt Cheng repeating that they love their passionate community and that there are multiple Diablo projects in the works.

Matthew Berger then proceeded to a rundown of the lore and timeline of the Diablo universe, highlighting some major characters. At the aftermath of the destruction of the Worldstone by Tyrael at the end of Diablo 2, in Diablo Immortal we learn that some corrupted fragments of the Worldstone have survived.

Puris the Decimator, who was available at the BlizzCon demo, is one of the game's bad guys. The main antagonist is Skarn, the Herald of Terror and Diablo's lieutenant, who is trying to resurrect his master.

Your allies include Valla the Demon Hunter, her master Josen, Jacob Staalek (he holds Eldruin while Tyrael is “dead”) and Deckard Cain.

The devs then showcased some of Diablo Immortal's outdoor zones.

Bilefen

It's a swampy island, whose main town is Port Justinian. The Wizard Jin is at the Bilefen and the Kikuras Rapids dungeon is also located there. A Worldstone fragment is corrupting the whole area.

Zoltun Kulle's Library

The wizard has a number of caches throughout Sanctuary and this is one of them.  Another corrupted Worldstone fragment is here. The area is guarded by a curator, which is actually a copy of Zoltun Kulle who doesn't realise it's a copy.

Shassar Sea

Young Valla and her master Josen are trying to find a demon nest that has formed in the area.

In Diablo Immortal, instanced dungeons are areas where monsters stay dead when you kill them and have unique mechanics that cannot be found in outdoor zones. Three dungeons were shown.

Tomb of Fahir

You must unlock seals to proceed through the dungeons. There's a Broodmother boss and a lot of arachnoids!

Kikuras Rapids

You ride a raft to access it. Wyatt Cheng described it as "a theme park water ride with monsters trying to kill you". There's a Fetid Patriarch boss.

Forgotten Tower

It's the same area as Act I from Diablo 2. The Forgotten Tower is the home of the Countess and you will find out that her cultists have managed to bring her back to life.

Afterwards, we learned the story and saw some skills of the six Diablo Immortal classes.

Barbarian

• Furious Charge: Makes use of touch controls by aiming skill
• Hammer of the Ancients
• Throw: Throw an enemy to another enemy.

Necromancer

• Command Skeletons
• Corpse Lance
• Skeletal Spikes: Summons bones from the ground to impale enemies.

Crusader

• Blessed Shield: Can be aimed, damages enemies on the way out and back in and whoever doesn't get killed, get gripped to melee range.
• Sweep Attack: Gain damage and range the longer you hold your thumb on the skill.
• Falling Sword: Adjusted to be a two stage ability, target a location drops a sword on a location. Then activating the ability a second time causes you to crash down from above. Can use other abilities in between first and second activation.

Wizard

• Μeteor
• Ray of Frost: Two-step activation - start the channel and end it.
• Ice Crystal: Two-step ability. First, you place the crystal Then with the second activation or when its duration expires, the crystal explodes. Can combine it with Ray of Frost.

Demon Hunter

• Daring Swing: Reposition yourself from one position of the battlefield to another, while shooting from an advantageous position
• Strafe
• Rain of Vengeance

Monk

• Seven-Sided Strike
• Kick: You can use it off of walls to rebound off them and then hit enemies
• Imprisoned Fists: Punch the spirit out of an enemy

A very brief Q&A followed. A couple of fans prefaced their questions by apologising for the other fans' negative reactions. Here are the answers:

• Too early to say if Mephisto is in Diablo Immortal. Some of the Prime Evils are returning faster than they should.
• They are currently looking at what itemisation will be like. Legendary powers will be present. They will also add socketing and other ways to upgrade/improve items.
• Haven't figured out business model. Gameplay first.
• Team thinks there is some middle ground between everything being soulbound and the auction house in regards to trading in Diablo Immortal.
• We will probably see the history of other classes (not just the Demon Hunters) in the game, since it covers a big time frame lore-wise.

[Lampanelli 75]

All i can think about when looking at these images is "How many ways are we gonna need to pay to actually play those maps?" Not that I'm ever gonna touch it, as it's a watered down scrap pile, but I do find myself curios as to how many ways they're gonna bill people.

[Dejo93 1,023]

Still not playing this. 

Seriously Cheng, all of this could have been avoided if you just put a flaming IV at the end of the panel

[Demenzel 29]

I'm going to play it... if dont have to pay ofc (I mean, i won't pay any microtransaction)

[Bnetmyke 21]

12 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

Still not playing this. 

Seriously Cheng, all of this could have been avoided if you just put a flaming IV at the end of the panel

Lol, assuming he had any control over what was being presented.

[Oaken 2]

With as much grief as the announcement was getting for this game.  I actually played it at BlizzCon and thought it was quite fun.  I look forward to it's release.

[Sesyl91 3]

Come on, guys... why can't you all trust Blizzard for once? Stop saying that microtransiction will be there, the game is not out yet, can you all predict future now?
And... honestly, where on Earth can you find maps that look like these on a mobile game?

[Dejo93 1,023]

1 hour ago, Sesyl91 said:

Come on, guys... why can't you all trust Blizzard for once? Stop saying that microtransiction will be there, the game is not out yet, can you all predict future now?
And... honestly, where on Earth can you find maps that look like these on a mobile game?

dude, the game is a reskin of an already existing Diablo clone. Come on now

[lChronosl 182]

42 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

dude, the game is a reskin of an already existing Diablo clone. Come on now

Seriously? That would be sad for the playerbase, even if the company men think it's a positive thing.

What is the name of this clone?

[Dejo93 1,023]

2 hours ago, lChronosl said:

Seriously? That would be sad for the playerbase, even if the company men think it's a positive thing.

What is the name of this clone?

Some already existing NetEase game. They have multiple Diablo clones made

[Lawrenz 105]

6 hours ago, Dejo93 said:

Some already existing NetEase game. They have multiple Diablo clones made

So any hack&slay is a clone now?

I have seen their games, and seriously...  the always mentioned "Crusader of light" (that many claim, diablo immortal is just a reskin of it) has a different playerperspective (camera), a bit clunky animations and effects, and horrible design assets (asian mmo style on character models, and besides characters, all the environment and landscape looks horrible.)

Of course, if blizzards wants netease to build a hack and slay game, they would use their most recent engine or base for that. But if a game looks better, plays better and is overall a better experience, is it really JUST a reskin? By that logic any shooter made with the unreal engine is the same game... what more important in the final mobile gaming situation is the user experience.

Online i found several videos, by some wannabe haters, that jump onto this bandwagon of "diablo doomsayers". It's so silly to see someone go ham when just seeing a slightly comparable casting animation like a lightning nova and scream "OMG it's just a reskin".

I would wait and judge the gameplay, instead of making up some silly claims without any substance.

Besides all of that, what i am curious about is the user interface and the progression. Because i wanted to try hack and slay games on the phone but i never got into that, because the user is bombarded with ads or so many different tabs with daily progress/weekly progress/story progress. You dont know what is where and what is good and what is a waste. This experience, i believe, blizzards D.i. will handle better than any other mobile game and i definitely want to give it a try. But still, have to wait and see.

[Guest]

15 hours ago, Sesyl91 said:

Come on, guys... why can't you all trust Blizzard for once? Stop saying that microtransiction will be there, the game is not out yet, can you all predict future now?
 

Mh, maybe because Blizzard is trying to make the most money with the least effort in the last years? and microtransaction are exactly what you would choose if that is your aim?

It's called pattern prediction and is math-related not soothsaying. One is science, the other is just magical nonsense.

Or you can call it educated guess. "Earth will not be hit by a meteor in the next week". Do I now it becaucse I can see the future? No.

Is the statement nevertheless based on solid ground? Sure.

 

We do not know as a 100% fact that there will be microtransactions. But chances are high that there will be.

 

[Lawrenz 105]

15 minutes ago, WedgeAntilles said:

We do not know as a 100% fact that there will be microtransactions. But chances are high that there will be.

Why is that even a point of discussion? There are just three options. Buy-price without micro-tr. , Free to play with micro-tr. or buy-price with micro-tr.

This is just a guess: but i dont think blizzard will have Ads in the game, so it will be one of the three payment models i mentioned

The game has to bring in some money. I would prefer it to be free to play with micro-transactions, so it will reach the highest amount of players. The main question will always be HOW micro-transactions are implemented. Either of the three options i mentioned could be implemented in a good way, or a bad way.

[Prophet001 598]

Looks pretty good if it's devoid of micro-transactions.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Lawrenz said:

The main question will always be HOW micro-transactions are implemented. Either of the three options i mentioned could be implemented in a good way, or a bad way.

That is correct.

[Xhopeon 50]

You know why I hate it already? Because I have Windows phone... and all 21 of us will never be able to even try it.... ? 

They could make one version for Windows Store, that way everyone would be covered... ? 

[Sesyl91 3]

On 11/7/2018 at 8:11 PM, Xhopeon said:

You know why I hate it already? Because I have Windows phone... and all 21 of us will never be able to even try it.... ? 

They could make one version for Windows Store, that way everyone would be covered... ? 

Windows Phone still exist? This could be a great time to change it into iOS or Android ?