@Diablo took on a variety of issues again today. As I did in yesterday’s twitter post, here they are, with the more interesting/relevant ones first, and then some sort of rabble-rousing denunciation afterwards. That’s the plan going in, at least.
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Haven’t heard much about [WIKI]cinematics[/WIKI] in D3. Are they many planned? Will they be shown between acts like in D2? How cool are they?—hartdev
They’re going to blow people away.—Diablo
What is a skill rune effect for [WIKI]Locust Swarm[/WIKI]? That skill is so sick by itself, I can’t fathom how it could be modified to be better.—AcidReign87
[WIKI]Indigo[/WIKI]‘s chance to jump to multiple targets instead of just one is pretty awesome.—Diablo
The [WIKI]salvage[/WIKI] box would look awesomer if it looked like a Hellraiser-esque puzzle box —drbuttocks
The look has actually been changed, and that’s not too far off a description.—Diablo
In an interview about her new project, the lovely @FeliciaDay calls out @Diablo III as a game she can’t wait to play: http://usat.ly/gUc6Mo—Diablo
who cares, she’s 1 of millions that can’t wait to play it. She isn’t special.—Tyrael
u mad Tyrael?—Diablo
Is there a way to see how each [WIKI]rune [/WIKI]modifies the skill in the game? Otherwise we will need google again like we did in d2.—GuXiGlen
Mousing a rune over a skill will show how it effects that skill in the [WIKI]tooltip[/WIKI] (and compares to the currently used rune).—Diablo
Is there a link where I can order my Virtual Ticket for the Blizzcon 2011?—akumagin
We’ve only just announced it. Once the BlizzCon site goes live and we have more info we’ll be sure to let you know.—Diablo[/BLUE]
If there’s anything the devs have been more close-mouthed about than the [WIKI]story[/WIKI], it’s the [WIKI]cinematics[/WIKI]. I tried to wring some blood from the Kevin Martens/Julian Love stone on that topic a year and a half ago, and they wouldn’t even give a rough estimate for the length, though they surely knew it at that point. You can see @Diablo today is just as forthcoming with details. All we really know is that the D3 cinematics will be much like D2’s in length/presentation, but as for the content… watch the intro movie again and you’ll know as much as anyone does, at this point.
As for what skill runes do… you’re still going to need Google. (Well, not google, just the Diablo Wiki, where we’re currently debating how best to organize the skill pages to show all of the varying Runestone stats and properties.) They had hover descriptions in the Blizzcon build last year, but I still felt the need to actually test them out in almost every case, especially when the change was a big one. You get something like the [WIKI]Obsidian Rune[/WIKI] in [WIKI]Plague of Toads[/WIKI], and the description tells you, “Cast one large toad that can swallow monsters whole.” True and accurate, but how large? How quickly does it eat? Can it hurt boss monsters? Does it move along with you? Those are all crucial details that you can’t get from a short tooltip, no matter how cleverly-written.
Happily, the learning process for skillrunes will be awesome. I’m looking forward to spending a lot of my early game time swapping different runes in and out of every skill, just to see what they do, and fans are going to spend much time trading cool rune effect stories in the forums. I can easily imagine people creating new characters just to try out a rune effect they saw in a screenshot or YouTube movie. When the time comes, we’re going to be a runestone effect info clearing house, and it will be fun to assemble and disseminate the details.