Diablo Junkie

The new BlizzCast (#6) is out and there’s plenty of interesting info, especially about Starcraft 2. There’s also an interview with Anthony Rivero, Senior Character Artist on Diablo 3.

Most of the questions deal with his work on Diablo 2 and the Lord of Destruction expansion. His claim to fame is Mephisto (Act III). Since doing Mephisto runs is how I spend my time in D2, you could say he’s my favorite artist. After all, I’ve seen Mephisto’s dying animation THOUSANDS of time.

So what is he doing in Diablo 3?

Bashiok: Are there any creatures that are announced that we can talk about that you’ve provided some modeling for or have contributed to?
Anthony: The female witch doctor’s heavy armor set, her look is my design and work.
Bashiok: That was seen at WWI, the large feather headdress look.
Anthony: Yes, yes. And the scavenger monster.

Hmm, I must confess his drawing sucks (see right). I like how the Witch Doctor as a 3D model though, so let’s say Tony is primarily a 3D artist.

Flux: A question about the skill points in D3. Active skills only took one point at Blizzcon, after the gameplay movie from WWI showed multiple ranks in active skills. Will they allow more points in the final game?

Blizzard announced in their last newsletter that DC Comics are starting a comic book set in the WoW universe.

Frankly, I’m not sure I’d buy a book where the superhero is a female Tauren (a.k.a COW). What’s her special power? MOO power?

Anyway, I think a Diablo comic book will have longer legs. A Frank-Milleresque type of dark and contrasty comic book might work great.

The superhero ends up getting a new super skill (Death Ray) at the end of each book. Also, he loots rare swords or armor from the boss… Is that cool or what?

A recent article at Gameriot has made a top 10 list of Diablo 3 environments.

The environments that they like are: deserts and wastelands, forests, ancient ruins, and corrupted regions. They didn’t like Hell (Act IV) and think it was done in a hurry with only two waypoints.

I tend to agree - Act IV seems a bit dull compared to the others. However, my list of worst environments is easily topped by the jungles of Kurast! The pygmies were a NIGHTMARE for my Ice Sorceress!

Environmental Damage

The official site updated with new screens plus more screens!

The guys at Joystiq are going over their first Diablo 3 multiplayer experience during Blizzcon.

The quality of the video is way better that most I’ve seen. You need to wait a bit for the multiplayer gameplay to start (at 3:08). The party is complete with all three Diablo 3 characters: Wizard, Barbarian and Witch Doctor.

The only complaint was that the screen was a bit overwhelmed with all the special effects:

The only negative thing we could see was the messy screens you’d get when playing in a party. If you have a Witch Doctor in your group casting Locust Swarm, and a ton of enemies are massing around your group, you’ll start frantically clicking at any and everything on screen.

Check out the Skeleton King fight at the end! I’m still not sure if the Wizard managed to kill it… I guess not.

MTV’s video tour of Blizzard’s Headquarters (Page 1) – News and Updates – Diablo 3 Community – The Diablo III Community and Forum for all your Diablo 3 Needs!