Diablo 3 Inferno monster levels detailed

Blizzard shares a few more details on how the Inferno monster leveling in Diablo 3 will be changed from the original plans based on playtesting.

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Diablo III finally has a release date of May 15, so now is the perfect time for the hardcore fans to start putting the game's mechanics under a microscope. In a discussion with fans about rune points, Blizzard dropped a few new tidbits on how the game handles monster levels.

At the Diablo Fans forum, Blizzard community manager Bashiok revealed that the Inferno monster levels won't be linear in this incarnation. Instead, they'll level up progressively. He says the developers originally intended users to be able to farm wherever they want, but playtesting revealed a few problems. The final boss didn't feel like an appropriate challenge, the pacing felt off, and Blizzard wanted more variety so that hardcore players could have a challenge while casual players could make it through the game.

This raised concerns of taking away the ability to farm anywhere, but he says they aim to make loot better in later acts without making earlier equipment completely obsolete. "Even though the theoretical best items might come from the later Acts, well-rolled items from the earlier acts will still be better," he said.

Responding directly to a fan who felt the game might be too easy in Hell, Bashiok assured that the difficulty will ramp up properly. "You're going to die, a lot, and you're going to have a horrible character for quite a while," he said. "You're not going to hit 60 and finish the game on Inferno. You're going to be smashing your face against Act 1 Inferno for weeks. Perfecting your build before then will not matter."

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  • reply
    April 2, 2012 11:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Diablo 3 Inferno monster levels detailed.

    Blizzard shares a few more details on how the Inferno monster leveling in Diablo 3 will be changed from the original plans based on playtesting.

    • reply
      April 2, 2012 11:23 AM

      ... a Blizzard employee going by "Bashiok" revealed that the Inferno monster levels won't be linear in this incarnation.

      Why do news posts here always come off like something sinister is going on?

    • reply
      April 2, 2012 12:17 PM

      I think he's a community manager

    • reply
      April 2, 2012 12:43 PM

      Anything to make this game less Diablo and more everything else.

      • reply
        April 2, 2012 12:51 PM

        what are you going on about

      • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        April 2, 2012 12:54 PM

        Apparently at this point even changing things to be closer to how they were in Diablo 2 is also a symptom of Blizzard making the game "less Diablo". Just baffling.

        • reply
          April 2, 2012 1:02 PM

          Diablo only had Normal, Nightmare, and Hell difficulty.

          Diablo 3 has Normal, Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno difficulties!

          Adding a new harder difficulty is not something we hardcore gamers will stand for!

      • reply
        April 2, 2012 1:01 PM

        .... what

      • reply
        April 2, 2012 1:32 PM

        The mindless D3 hate is becoming more annoying than Bronies

        • reply
          April 2, 2012 2:09 PM

          except it's not mindless at all. It's pretty obvious they are making extreme changes from typical Diablo/DiabloII formula. We won't know if it's for the better until we get the game, but having played the beta, I have to say I'm not thrilled with what I've been seeing.

          • reply
            April 2, 2012 2:10 PM

            All difficulties in Diablo 1 & 2 had a curve to them. None of them were flat.

            If anything, this changes Inferno difficulty to be more like every other difficulty in the other Diablo games.

            • reply
              April 2, 2012 2:12 PM

              I was really responding the the generality that magitek was alluding to. I'm interested to see how the inferno stuff pans out.

              • reply
                April 2, 2012 2:14 PM

                Generality? It's mindless. Every single thing a Blizzard rep says is met with bitching.

                In the thread where Bashiok announced this, he made it pretty clear they were making Inferno difficulty even harder and for the elite of the elite. How did a good part of the remaining thread go? Blizzard was already nerfing inferno difficulty to cater to the casuals.

                People are fucking retarded.

                • reply
                  April 2, 2012 2:48 PM

                  This was a Shack thread? I guess I don't follow. Shackers > Rest of Internet. If Shackers are complaining about something more than praising it, it very likely is pretty screwed up.

                  • reply
                    April 2, 2012 2:57 PM

                    The Shack thread still had people bitching about being able to change skills, how much of a painful grind it is to get to level 14 (based on the beta! ... which has level 1-9 content), how much farming is necessary to get anywhere in inferno difficulty, and a few more I probably missed.

                    People don't come here just to bitch, which makes it somewhat more tolerable than the rest of the internet. This site isn't immune from the same sort of stupid, though.

        • reply
          April 3, 2012 4:52 AM

          I low how all the preteens are yelling D3 HATE as soon as someone doesn't agree with their mindless fanboyism.

        • reply
          April 3, 2012 5:07 AM

          [deleted]

    • reply
      April 2, 2012 1:14 PM

      Loaded up the beta this weekend for the first time in a couple months. Man, it plays even better. Something about the animations has changed I think. Just felt more solid. I'm really drawn to something melee now, I think.

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        April 2, 2012 1:18 PM

        yep.

      • reply
        April 2, 2012 1:21 PM

        i think i've leveld a demon hunter at least 10 times now to 13.. can't get enough of that class :O

      • reply
        April 2, 2012 1:23 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          April 2, 2012 1:32 PM

          Time to make a melee wizard

        • reply
          April 2, 2012 1:53 PM

          The physics add A LOT to how awesome melee classes feel in this game. Nothing like punching a dude so hard his skeleton flies out of his body across the room.

          • reply
            April 2, 2012 1:57 PM

            wait what? That's a thing??

            Holy shit

            • reply
              April 2, 2012 2:06 PM

              oh yeah

              I think it depends on how much you overkill something but, but there are multiple "blow the fuck out of the mob" animations where you do just that.

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          April 2, 2012 2:09 PM

          Witch Doctor and Wizard are pretty satisfying to me. The only class that I feel really lacks "unf" is the Demon Hunter.

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          April 2, 2012 3:31 PM

          They've stated publicly that they want the melee wizard to be viable.

          Plus hey, LoD introduced 2 new classes, anyone would be a fool to think D3 won't have at least 1 expansion.

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