E
Eldorian
Guest
After 4 hours of sleep, some great French breakfast (that would have cost me 30 Euros if it wasn't complimentary), I finally ventured from the Blizzard provided shuttle to the convention center where the event was being held. Sitting next to me is the community manager for StarCraft 2 and we casually discuss the different games as I still try to get a hint at what the big announcement planned for the day is. As we approach the center, we see an enormous line of people waiting to get into the event. We turn the corner and see more people lined up. Turn another corner and see more people lined up. There were literally thousands of people lined up several blocks long just to get into the event and get a decent seat to the opening ceremony which was still THREE HOURS away.
Luckily for me I didn't have to wait in that line. We pulled up, I got my press pass and walked in and started exploring. There's 2 floors and several tournament stages for the Stracraft, Warcraft 3, and World of Warcraft teams to play on. The Blizzard shop (which I still need to go to) and I also need to find where the goodie bags are stored.
I venture up to the second hall where the main stage is and find a decent seat for the opening ceremony a good hour before it started, and I'm glad I did because the place was absolutely packed.
The ceremony started out with welcoming everyone to the event and showing us highlights of last year's event. We then spent about 20-30 minutes being introduced to the pro gaming teams that would be competing.
That's when the CEO of Blizzard came on stage and talked about past, present, and future of Blizzard. Their merger with Acivision, the development of StarCraft 2, the development of Wrath of the Lich King... and the development of Diablo 3. The announcement started out with a guy coming out with a guitar playing the well known music from the Diablo franchise. The screen went dark and the cinematic started playing and we were introduced to the first glimpse of Diablo 3.
The Diablo 3 lead developer was then on stage to show us the very first demo of the game. He started out by showing us the Barbarian class and how they use frost and energy in their weapons to stun and freeze opponents. He showed us the new drop items, new red globes you can pick up that will replenish health so you don't have to rely so much on potions. The Barbarian can use the surrounding environment such as busting through walls to kill enemies.
We were then shown the new class called the Witch Doctor. The Witch Doctor can summon pets and control the minds of enemies. It can summon a swarm of bugs that engulfs nearby enemies and spreads to moreand more enemies as it increases it's strength. The Witch Doctor can also summon a wall of zombies to stop and kill enemies before they reach him/her.
Yes, that's right, I said him/her. In Diablo 3 you will have male and female versions of each character class you create. The other thing that was shown was how you have the isometric view that Diablo is known for, but you can also move the camera around and zoom in and around your character as you wish.
Last but not least, we were shown an epic battle with a VERY large boss called Siegebreaker Assualt Beast. The Barbarian and Witch Doctor battled it out for 3 or 4 minutes before downing the beast. When the beast is finished skeletons are summoned forth and surround our 2 heroes as the demo fades to black.
Diablo 3 really looks fantastic and is everything I imagined it would look like with today's graphics and I am happy they are keeping with the same tradition of not making it an MMO type game.
Also, some of you might find this post interesting on BlizzPlanet. Me and MedievalDragon ventured around Paris yesterday and he has a pretty funny story of our adventures that he could tell better than I ever could.
More...
Luckily for me I didn't have to wait in that line. We pulled up, I got my press pass and walked in and started exploring. There's 2 floors and several tournament stages for the Stracraft, Warcraft 3, and World of Warcraft teams to play on. The Blizzard shop (which I still need to go to) and I also need to find where the goodie bags are stored.
I venture up to the second hall where the main stage is and find a decent seat for the opening ceremony a good hour before it started, and I'm glad I did because the place was absolutely packed.
The ceremony started out with welcoming everyone to the event and showing us highlights of last year's event. We then spent about 20-30 minutes being introduced to the pro gaming teams that would be competing.
That's when the CEO of Blizzard came on stage and talked about past, present, and future of Blizzard. Their merger with Acivision, the development of StarCraft 2, the development of Wrath of the Lich King... and the development of Diablo 3. The announcement started out with a guy coming out with a guitar playing the well known music from the Diablo franchise. The screen went dark and the cinematic started playing and we were introduced to the first glimpse of Diablo 3.
The Diablo 3 lead developer was then on stage to show us the very first demo of the game. He started out by showing us the Barbarian class and how they use frost and energy in their weapons to stun and freeze opponents. He showed us the new drop items, new red globes you can pick up that will replenish health so you don't have to rely so much on potions. The Barbarian can use the surrounding environment such as busting through walls to kill enemies.
We were then shown the new class called the Witch Doctor. The Witch Doctor can summon pets and control the minds of enemies. It can summon a swarm of bugs that engulfs nearby enemies and spreads to moreand more enemies as it increases it's strength. The Witch Doctor can also summon a wall of zombies to stop and kill enemies before they reach him/her.
Yes, that's right, I said him/her. In Diablo 3 you will have male and female versions of each character class you create. The other thing that was shown was how you have the isometric view that Diablo is known for, but you can also move the camera around and zoom in and around your character as you wish.
Last but not least, we were shown an epic battle with a VERY large boss called Siegebreaker Assualt Beast. The Barbarian and Witch Doctor battled it out for 3 or 4 minutes before downing the beast. When the beast is finished skeletons are summoned forth and surround our 2 heroes as the demo fades to black.
Diablo 3 really looks fantastic and is everything I imagined it would look like with today's graphics and I am happy they are keeping with the same tradition of not making it an MMO type game.
Also, some of you might find this post interesting on BlizzPlanet. Me and MedievalDragon ventured around Paris yesterday and he has a pretty funny story of our adventures that he could tell better than I ever could.
More...