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New Tristam concept art courtesy Blizzard Entertainment The idea behind the change is to make each decision have more impact.
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You can swap skills in and out of slots as you like. Each character has six skill slots, and both skills and slots upgrade automatically as you progress through the game. One of the biggest changes this time around is that there are no longer skill points. In short, it looks like the five classes will offer up quite a few options to players. The barbarian class utilizes frenzy instead of mana and features abilities such as the power to transform into a giant, powerful beast the witchdoctor can summon everything from firebats (described as a flamethrower with bats in it) to creatures that can turn enemies into chickens the wizard can slow down time, coat its skin with protective diamonds, and even has an alternate form the monk is powered by spirit and features a wide array of martial arts moves and the long-range demon hunter gets its power from both hatred and discipline, which aid both offensive and defensive abilities. Kotaku has a great rundown of how the classes are shaping up.
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The beta itself covers the first eight levels of the game-which apparently can be completed in around an hour if you rush-and lets players use each of the game's five different classes.
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But the cost of these online features is that the game will always have to be online in order to be playable. As Eurogamer reported, the game will save your characters in the cloud and utilizes a banner system to display your in-game exploits and experience. According to reports, the game is as deep and polished as we've come to expect from Blizzard, though it doesn't come without a few hang-ups.Ĭhief among said hangups is the fact that the game can't be played offline. Blizzard is expected to release a beta of Diablo 3 later this year, but a group of journalists were recently invited to the developer's California headquarters to get an early look at what the rest of us will be playing.
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