As expected, we learned a lot of new things about Diablo III at BlizzCon. And as many of these bite-sized details got swept away in all the excitement, I figured it was time to update our massive Diablo III guide.

In addition to tons of new videos and screenshots, we've added plenty of information on the new Wizard class (including her entire current skill tree), details on the newly announced Skill Runes, and a note on a major change to the attribute system, among many other updates.

Also included is new information on which way Blizzard is leaning on the issue of console ports, subscription fees, and other key development decisions.

Red-shaded bullets denote new information. As always, feel free to suggest additions in the comments.

Table of Contents:

1. General Overview
2. Gameplay
3. Items
4. Questing
5. Interface
6. Multiplayer
7. Classes
8. Monsters
9. Story
10. Trailers, Gameplay Footage, and Screenshots

1. General Overview

• No plans for a console version yet, but the team has considered it.
• No decisions made on the financial model. Blizzard is leaning toward not charging a subscription for Battle.net, but some features will be monetized.
• Largely follows in the style of past Diablo games.
• Controls and camera kept simple, but depth of combat enhanced.
• The story takes place 20 years after the events of Diablo II.
• Greater emphasis has been placed on a character-driven story.
• Targeting a length similar to Diablo II, which ran four acts.
• Uses a new in-house 3D engine and the Havok physics engine for destructible environments.
• Has been in development for four or five years. Was rebooted after Blizzard North shut down in March 2005.
• Will ship simultaneously on Mac and PC.

2. Gameplay

• Attributes such as Strength and Intelligence are currently leveled automatically. Blizzard hopes this will place even more of an emphasis on equipment and talents. It also frees up the developers to plan for specific class builds.
• All classes now have significant DPS capability.
• A skill respec system is planned, but has not been detailed.
• Checkpoints have been added to dungeons.
• Players that die have the option of using a Vial of Resurrection or spawning at the last checkpoint, with full gear and items, and a sliver of health. No more fighting back to your corpse.
• Killing a large number of monsters in a row can earn players extra experience bonuses.
• The waypoint system will return, and will now feature an option to teleport to any nearby player.
• A world map will be used in conjunction with the waypoint system.

• Town portal system will "probably" be changed to speed up gameplay.
• Large focus on encouraging cooperative play.
• Level design will be a mix of randomized and static maps, as in Diablo II.
• Much more vertical terrain. Bridges, ladders, etc.
• Destructible environments have been added. Weak walls and hovering chandeliers can be used to kill enemies.
• Blizzard plans to offer higher difficulty levels.
• The permanent-death Hardcore mode from Diablo II is likely to return. "Don't see why we wouldn't do it."
• Booby traps return.
• Helper/bodyguard NPCs are back.
• Leveling up emits an explosion from the character, dealing damage to surrounding enemies.

3. Items

• A Skill Rune system has been added to the game.
  • Skill Runes will drop randomly from monsters like any other loot.
  • Each talent/spell has a single Skill Rune slot. Once socketed, the runes add various effects to the skills.
  • The runes can be swapped in and out--they do not bind.
  • Blizzard has created around 8 runes so far, with varying degrees of power--minor, major, etc.
  • Confirmed Rune Types:
    • Multistrike: Multiplies the effect of the spell. Example: Adds extra fireballs to Magic Missile, chain lightning to Electrocute, or multiple player copies with Mirror Image.
    • Lethality: Adds critical hit chance to the spell. Example: Adds explosion effects to spells like Electrocute or Disintegrate.
    • Power: Enhances the power of the spell. Example: Skull of Flame fireballs leave burning areas on the ground.
    • Striking: Adds a damage effect. Can turn a spell like Teleport into a damage-dealing warp.

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• Passive skils and the Skill Runes have replaced the Diablo II synergy system.
• 12 item slots: weapon, shield, helm, medallion, chest, sash, two rings, boots, pants, shoulders, and gloves.
• Weapons will include offhands such as wands and crystal balls/orbs.
• Inventory space can be expanded via extra bags, along the lines of World of Warcraft.
• Items all take up one inventory slot--no more shuffling that giant spear around.
• Color-coded items, uniques, runes, gems, and other conventions return, in addition to identification scrolls.
• Loot is now generated per player. You only see the loot that you can pick up. Blizzard hopes this will help to foster a spirit of cooperation.
• Damage-per-second statistics on all weapons.
• Trading will be improved over the ad-hoc Diablo II experience, but nothing like an "auction house" system has been confirmed.
• Less focus on potions in order to emphasize skill use. Monsters can drop instant health regen orbs which heal anybody nearby in your party.

4. Questing

• There will be class-based quests in addition to main storyline quests.
• Quests reward players with chunks of experience a la WoW.
• A new "Adventure" system will power randomly generated scripted events and quests. An example provided was an area the player would come across, such as an old abandoned house, that may have a story behind it and enemies to dispatch.
• A new conversation system will see fully-voiced characters interacting with each other.
• Quests are denoted with yellow WoW-like symbols.
• A quest tracker will allow players to easily determine which quests they are on.

5. Interface

• The full-screen map has been replaced with a traditional minimap, which can be toggled on and off.
• Lore can be collected in the form of scrolls. A voiceover begins on pick-up, with pause and play buttons at the bottom of the screen to control the audio playback.
• The new hotbar acts like an abbreviated four-slot form of a World of Warcraft hotbar, with two additional slots for potions.
• New skills are added simply by right clicking on the hotbar and selecting from a list of your learned skills. No skillbook needed.
• Players will be able to easily assign a primary LMB attack, as well as quickswap between two RMB skills using the mouse wheel or tab key.
• Isometric view that can be zoomed in, but not zoomed far out.
• Hit point numbers and words like "block" now appear above monsters.
• Buffs are now displayed as an icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.
• Gold is now automatically picked up if you run over it.

Turn the page for details on multiplayer and the game's classes.