teh Forum

Oh how I long must we wait before Diablo III comes out?...I'll buy everything there is to buy when it comes out - if it comes out...

It was almost 6 years ago around my birthday in, 2000 when Diablo 2 was released.

6 years.

Then a year later around my bday again we got the Lord of Destruction Expansion pack and it was super fun to play Diablo yet again.

Will we see anything of Diablo III this year? I have friends in the industry that said they saw it up and running at Blizzard but that was a long time ago...

Man, my Diablo 1 cd case says copyright 1994...I can still remember playing the preview of Diablo over at McNevin's house over 12 years ago...

Here is one "rumor" about it...Looks like maybe next yeaar we might hear about Diablo III?

February 03, 2006
Rumor: Diablo III On the Way? You Better Believe It!



It looks like the Diablo III rumor mill has started up once again with a seemingly innocent post on the jobs section of the Blizzard web site. A few days ago they posted a job for an art director and various leads to join "the team behind Diablo I and II" for "an unannounced PC project." I have been getting some inquires since then if Blizzard is indeed working on Diablo III and when is it going to come out?

Well, before I answer let me mention a few things. First, I don't want to get any of my friends at Blizzard in trouble, so from instead of mentioning "Diablo III" let's call this theoretical game "Beelzebub 3" and instead of "Blizzard" let's call them "Snowstorm". Second, my information is quality stuff, but it is a little old, so take that with a gain of salt. Third, err, well, there is no third, so let's get into what I know!

Let's the obvious out of way, "Snowstorm" is indeed working on "Beelzebub 3". Not only are they working on it, but they have been working on this game for no less than the past four years. In fact, "Snowstorm North" nearly completed the game several years ago, but what they developed just "wasn't fun" and been quietly reworked. This was actually one of the key reasons why Snowstorm North was closed and everyone was relocated to Irvine-based Snowstorm, so that the bigwigs in Irvine could better track and follow the development of Beelzebub 3.

As for what to expect in to see in Beelzebub 3, believe it or not but those rumors that were floating around a few months ago about the game were fairly accurate (by the way, I have no idea who started these rumors or where they came from). According to the rumors:

"Diablo 3 takes place in heaven. Hell is trying to take it over and it is AWESOME looking … Imagine the brightness of heaven being taken over by the darkness of hell … Imagine WoW but in a Diablo world in amount of size and playability … Also, guild housing is available in this game for those of you who know about it."

This information was pretty dead-on. It is true that Beelzebub 3 will be done in true 3D and it did indeed look freaking awesome. It is also true that Beelzebub 3 features a story between the conflicts of Heaven and Hell and contains a very cool feature where every single item in the game can change between a "light" version and a "dark" version. However this was also one of the problems with the original version of the game. Other than the ability for any item to visually change from light to dark it didn't affect the actual stats of the item or change the gameplay in any way. So the game has gone through a total rework to inject some "fun" into the gameplay and to make it feel like the Beelzebubs of old.

The core gameplay Beelzebub 3 will play pretty much like Beelzebub 1 and 2, but the game world will be much larger and provide a much deeper experience -- many more items, more levels when you go through the game for first time, more skills, more of everything. In addition, the multiplayer aspect will be greatly enhanced from the past installments and don't be surprised to see more than a couple of WoW-based concepts to leak over into the Beelzebub 3 universe ... such as two opposing factions (Alliance and Horde = Heaven and Hell), enhanced guild functionality, and maybe even mounts?!

As for when Beelzebub 3 will released, that one is easy to answer ... when it's done. Snowstorm is in no rush to finish this game and will release it only after they feel it's perfect. And after the fiasco of StarCraft: Ghost -- which has been announced for years and is currently going through its second round of redesign and reprogramming -- Snowstorm is in no rush to announce Beelzebub 3. Don't expect an announcement until the game is near completion.

But there is some good news; that "leak" on the Snowstorm jobs page was no accident. If they are starting to leak information about Beelzebub 3 then they are starting to get closer to a final release. Of course for Snowstorm something "getting close" can mean two years from now.

Hopefully that will hold everyone over for the short term. Hopefully Beelzebub 3 will be announced at the next E3, I'll try to find out more before then and give everyone the dirt as I get it.

I remember playing diablo 1 with j3rk, we had some broken hacked copy. You could never beat the butcher, he never showed up.

Oh how I love the first town music in D1

Its awesome how they have it in D2, when you teleport back to tristram.

They did add 11 new sub bosses to diablo 2, maybe another play is in order?

OH NEOOOoooooOOooO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just realized something....what if Diablo III is subscription based!?!??!?!

FUCK! I bet it will be...

I would totally play again!

From the BEGINNING!!!!!!!! what say you?

Yeah, im totally down...

cool - give me a call I don't think I have your new number.

Oh wait, what about l)ustr0n and/or Spidm0nx?

J3RK is maybe going to play later...

anyone else interested? Spidermonkey?

McNevin and I are playing with v1.11

Games are up at:

monkeylair.com

or

67.170.9.241

Forward TCP packets in/out to ports 4000 & 6112 if you want to host.

See you in hell...

I can't seem to locate any of my diablos, 1 or 2...
At times like this I miss the old monkey lair. The actual, physical monkey lair in Redmond...

So we made it to Lut Golein, and we are level 15ish, if you want to catch up.

If you have newsgroup access with decent retention, you can get D2 here

Lord of Destruction.nzb

DIABLO 2 CD1&3.nzb

J3rk, check your email

what about good ole torrent spy?

Here are a couple torrents for Diablo 2 with Lord of Destruction that are pretty healthy still

Save target as:

(1.72GB is patched to v1.11)
http://home.comcast.net/~l2icks0r/Diabl ... ar.torrent

(2.55GB has extra music or something)
http://home.comcast.net/~l2icks0r/Diablo_2.torrent

I am getting both of them right now just for good measure. I'll have to find a reasonably fast FTP site to put them on...hmmm...I need 4.3GB of space too...I can only send at about 38kbps from my ftp which would take about 32 hours...to upload...hmmm...better just get it using a torrent.

I'm getting 70-100kbps for the first 1.72GB version right now so I'd dl that one.

Id assume that the smaller one just doesnt have the cinematics

Ok I got both versions of D2 off of torrentspy. The CDs have to be burnt from a .mdf/.mds pair which I'd assume is like a .bin/.cue pair. I don't feel like getting the software to burn it. My version of Nero doesn't but probably a newer one would.

What is the dilly-yo with .mdf/.mds anyway is it better/newer?

Just install Daemon tools. Then all you have to do is mount the image. (no burning) I never burn discs, unless it's something that must be stored off the PC. I'd really like to join you guys, but I've been extremely busy. Once I'm settled into the new job I can play games more. You'll probably have beaten it by then, but perhaps we can play something similar. You know, Guild Wars is VERY similar in style of play (perhaps moreso than DS even,) and though it is online, there are no subscription fees. I bet it's fairly cheap now too. The only reason I don't play it anymore is that I don't have anyone to play with.

mdf is an Alcohol 120 format, and yes, it can also be mounted by daemon tools.

It's a Media Descriptor File, and yes its the same principal is bin/cue.

cool I shall have to try it just for fun...

Yes, perhaps some Guild Warring in a couple o' weeks or so...

Anyone else get diablo installed?

When we gonna play?

NOW bastards!!!!

I'm feeling kind of frustrated with still being married and all...so play now! damnit!

Server is up monkeylair.net 6:03PM PST

Wow, we have been waiting for this for a long time...over three years ago we wrote this stuff...ridiculous...

So, I occasionally have to visit the Diablo III website and I just noticed that they have a FOURTH character class(teh Monk(v2.0)!) on the site - a good sign of progress. So how many other characters are there going to be? By todays standards four characters seems a little bit light, but I believe five would be enough. Diablo II had five(Barbarian, Paladin, Sorceress, Necromancer, and the Amazon) to start and then two (Assassin, Druid) more for LOD. So will Blizz try to one up themselves with six characters for Diablo 3? Supposedly they only have plans for five and we have been waiting so long I bet they will only do five and then maybe for the expansion they can have two or three more. It was just last month Blizzard updated the website to show the Monk BUT Bleezard actually is working on the Wizard class! I love a fully traditional magic user and it really makes sense they include such a fundamentally important class such as that. I can still remember only having three classes in Diablo 1 with the Warrior, Sorcerer, and the Rogue...such a fun game that was too although I did appreciate the upgrade Hellfire included that allowed you to run and had the Monk(v1.0) class. He was kind of fun because as he got more powerful he needed no armor or weapon to be at max stats remember? I still remember when I unequipped my weapon and his damage and attack rating went up - that was cool.

So, I am betting the Diablo III release is only months away and hopefully creating character class content is a more streamlined process and teh Weezard character will be done faster than the previous classes, then again she is probably going to be a lot of work with all the magic that accompanies her.

My official predictions for Diablo 3 are that it will be released February 2010...with five character classes and the D3 expansion to be released 12-13 months later as was the case with Hellfire and LOD. In fact LOD was released EXACTLY one year later to the day. Hellfire was about three weeks and a year after Diablo 1.

For the Diablo III expansion I wouldn't be surprised if they added a Priest or Cleric character class because what else is there? Something like an in between character or variation. The Assassin was another fighter type but they have the Monk and Barbarian and the Barbarian is a repeat character! Probably everyones favorite entry level character. So it is doubtful that they would have third fighter type like a Samurai or something but who knows. A Ranger would be a cool class...but then what is left? Bard? Thief? Maybe something race oriented like TEH MAGIC MIDGET? who knows...

I cannot wait...but in the meantime ASSASSINS CREED 2 !!!!!

I rarely ever give official approval of any video game but ACII is going to be an incredible game that everyone should play. In fact I need to upgrade my original recommendation from um...i dunno PLAY!!!! to FRIGGIN PLAY PLAY PLAY it DAMNIT!!!. AC1 was incredible too but this version will be a more refined and upgraded instance. So buy AC2 in a couple months and then...

DIABLO MAWTHARFRIGGEN 3 DAMNIT!!!!

I figured it already came out and I already played it and just forgot. Jeeebus.

I just realized that I think it would be best to despise the Kurast docks. I really did not enjoy playing that act at all(except when I got decent items)...especially since there were more quests in that act than any other for D2...I really liked hell though...and I especially liked both of the two acts in LOD...very fun...anyway...I digress...er wait...what was I talking about? A secret cow level?

The LOD levels were fun. I like Act I and II for the non-LOD. They need to cut down on the bugs this time, and go for more evil beings instead.

To quote Hudson: "Is this going to be a stand up fight, or another bug hunt?!?"

yeah...see EVIL is GOOD...because you can't have GOOD without EVIL - you just have neutral...and what fun is that?

I just converted my World of Warcraft account into a global Battle.net account. I noticed that you can add your CD keys for Warcraft 3, and Diablo II, looks as though Bliz is doing a sort of steam type thing for their games. Curious if you can add your keys, and then download and install them from battle.net?

Anyway seeing it on there made me want to play D2.

Steam for Blizzard? They only have like 8 games though...