New to the Diablo world!

[Meil]

Been playing WoW for the last few years, and have always heard of Diablo, but never played it or really studied it before. What does a person like me need to know before diving into D3?

[Asmekiel]

There's nothing you actually need to know. But what are you interested in knowing before playing? Is it lore, gameplay, items or something totally different?
Back when I started playing D2 (2004 I think it was) I just bought the game because someone said it was a good game. I just started playing without any help, the controls are really easy to learn and the rest is rather selfexplanatory. From what I've seen in the beta of D3, there's a tutorial for like everything at the start, so it'll all be in the game.

[Meil]

-lore
-gameplay- i.e. classes and abilities that truly standout.

[Oktavian007]

All you need to know is Diablo, Diablo II, and Diablo III rock... nothing more.

[Asmekiel]

I'm not really into lore myself. But for gameplay, I think I can answer a few basic questions.
In the beta we could only level to 13, so it's not really much more than getting a feeling of the way a class should work. Didn't really see any class roflstomping the abilities of another class though, it really depends on your playstyle. Do you like to go up close and smack the hell out of the monsters? play barb/monk. Do you want to attack from a distance? play demon hunter, wizard or witch doctor. Of course there is more nuance between classes than that.

Check out the official site http://us.battle.net/d3/en/

[calibro]

Diablo Wiki, go google it and have fun. Also, Book of Cain.

[jahasafrat]

I haven't played the D3 beta because I'm saving myself for release, but if it's anything like D2 just point and click.

[Meil]

Any relevance between Wow and Diablo? Like similar feels? Like classes being similar?

[DarkTZeratul]

Not really. They're entirely different games.

[Petraclese]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ghu8RzsWvs
Has all the current lore. As for gameplay, he has alot of videos on all the classes in d3 (some are older in beta) You can also go to the diablo website and look at skills for all the classes. Also the IGN spotlight videos for each class are well made. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9CNFRMJmIo
There are spotlight vids for each class now.
SEE YOU AT LAUNCH!

[zugzug]

most important thing to know is that this is not WoW2, it is Diablo 3. Lately i see even ppl that have played first 2 Diablos forget about that. Dont expect to be some upgraded version of WoW.

[BLSTMASTER]

And its important to note that it is NOT an MMO (well i guess it depends on your definition)

There will be no city hub where you gather and see other people.

If you really want to compare it, then you can think of it as a mass dungeon run while solo or co-op.

The lore, from what can see, has been polished greatly since the last 2 games ( they added 3 novels/ book of cain to solidify it)
and it looks really interesting to me as to where they want to go with it.

Also they tried to make sure that the lore doesnt necessarily hinder game play (as much).
You would get lore bits as you are playing, and npcs will talk/read while you are playing (Dont really have to stop and read, as you can listen to them while you are pawning monsters).

EDIT: Also, I think its important to note that because you can play D3 completely solo (at least the PvE aspect of it) You can play whatever the hell way you want to play. (Nobody will tell you its the wrong way to play if you play solo)

Co-op could be a bit different, but I think that without dps meters, most people wont notice how 'bad' you are doing. (Unless you are constantly dying. You dont want to die much anyways >.< )

[Bigbazz]

Well there are some things shared. WoW has many item names and cheaky sneaky references to Diablo, not to mention that some of the Burning Crusade music (auchenai crypts area/zones) is taken straight from Diablo 2.

But as games they aren't similar past the fact that you're playing an RPG character with talents and gearslots, where the aim of the game is to progress your character, mainly via gear. But they are completely different games, Diablo 3 is nothing like an MMO.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

No guilds
No raids
No character build which reigns supreme over others
Nothing is bound to your player and can be traded
Limited quest pool but greater chances at loot
Random elements to the environment, monsters and items
No professions
Greater story arch from start to finish
Four separate modes of play depending on your dedication (norm, nightmare, hell, inferno)
Gear progression in terms of affixes and looks from one difficulty to the next
No barrens chat in game
Difficulty scales in regards to how many players are in the game
Tanking, healing, and damage-dealing builds are not as cut and dry
Varying degrees of loot types and 'tiers' (inferno) which range from magical, rare, and legendary
No loot tables as it's all generated randomly but increases with magic find items
'Clickers' is the standard way of playing

That's all I can think of off the top of my head if you're coming from WoW.

[Mormolyce]

The lore to Diablo goes like this: there's demons, and demons are bad. Diablo II added some new lore: there's also angels, and angels aren't bad. Mostly. Probably.

The abilities and classes will be mostly new in D3 so no real need to know. The Barbarian is the only class from D2 to come through and it's going to be changed, but it's your basic fighter class. The Wizard/Mage/Sorceress/whatever class is generally pretty similar game to game and the Witch Doctor looks similar-ish to the old Necro. The first casts spells the second has a mix of offensive spells and minions. Then there's the Monk and Demon Hunter, they're new.

No character build which reigns supreme over others

That was completely not true in D2, probably won't be true in D3 either but we can hope.

[Bcons]

Basics of diablo backstory:

Heaven and Hell have fought war for ages due to their conflicting nature, Heaven/angels preferring order and Hell/demons preferring chaos. This does not make heaven "good" and hell "bad" as is the perception in modern society, they are both simply different. There are some angels, for example, that wish to completely exterminate mankind.

Some angels and demons tire of the endless war, and lead by Anarius (angels) and Lilith (demons) hide together on the world of sanctuary which is hidden from Heaven and Hell by the power of the worldstone. The angels and demons hidden on this land breed to create the Nephalim, humans with incredible magical powers. Lilith wants these humans to be used as tools of war to overturn both heaven AND hell ending the war. Anarius would rather destroy them as he views them as a threat. In the end Lilith is banished, and rather than eliminating the Nephalim, Anarius uses the power of the worldstone to subdue their powers, but lets them live.

Heaven and Hell eventually detect and gain entrance to sanctuary. The main goal of both in the current story arc is to gain control of the Nephalim and unleash their powers on the opposing faction. It is important to remember that Heaven isn't inherently "good" and Hell isn't inherently "evil" as you may be tempted to think. If EITHER side were to "win" it would be catastrophe for the people of sanctuary.

That's more or less the back story, not very detailed but gives you an idea. Does not include the events of either diablo 1 or 2. Which is basically -> Diablo, Mephisto, Baal (3 "Prime evils", leaders of Hell) = subdued/trapped by soul stones -> Diablo's soulstone possesses a bunch of people, achieves freedom -> Diablo frees his brothers, Mephisto and Baal -> Mephisto and Diablo's souls trapped in soulstones once more and soulstones destroyed on hellforge -> Baal corrupts world stone, is defeated and worldstone destroyed.

[bringitback]

I never played Diablo 1 or 2, but i had plenty of friends who were freaks on it, and i remember them hanging out in cities where other people were. Is there really no central hub in diablo 3 where you can stand around and show off your gear?

[Cairhiin]

The lore to Diablo goes like this: there's demons, and demons are bad. Diablo II added some new lore: there's also angels, and angels aren't bad. Mostly. Probably.

Angels are also bad they want the destruction of Sanctuary. Previously, before Diablo 2, the World Stone made it impossible for Angels and Demons to enter the world of Sanctuary freely, now that Tyrael destroyed the Worldstone (after it was corrupted by Baal) at the end of D2:LOD. The barriers between Hell, Sanctuary and the High Heavens have been broken. Nothing stands in the way of a full invasion of the force of Hell any longer.

---------- Post added 2012-05-03 at 10:35 AM ----------

I never played Diablo 1 or 2, but i had plenty of friends who were freaks on it, and i remember them hanging out in cities where other people were. Is there really no central hub in diablo 3 where you can stand around and show off your gear?

There is no central hub in Diablo III. There are small towns but only the people in your game can see you there.

[zugzug]

No professions

Actually there is in D3

[Kaj392]

but never played it or really studied it before.

My heart just shed a tear
Diablo is like, the LoZ: OoT for the pc. It's just a must play game