9.0 General Discussion

[Nyel]

A leak like this is more of a tease to hype people up for the actual reveal of expansion, which the things you mentioned will be revealed. Something big was revealed a new friendly race and new area to explore that ties in with the Shadowlands.

I don't think they would leak there biggest upcoming features in an expansion in a leak 6 days before Blizzcon.

A leak like this is a leak not to hype things up, it’s a leak that shouldn’t have happened.

Again, if you market your expansion with a line - new abilities - you clearly won’t release a new class in the end.

If this is legit it’s from a presentation or preview website officially from Blizzard to be live within the announcement which means you have all the big stuff already enlisted right there.

[Marlamin]

Well, I'm signing off for tonight and I'll probably be gone for most of tomorrow as I'm going to a convention.

I think all of the leaks posted by WeakAuras are real. I was doubtful at first, but the situation with Diablo 4 adds more credibility to whatever or whoever their source may be.

Please ping me about any new leaks (both images and written ones) so I can add them to the spreadsheet!

With the fact that 3 very legitimate looking leaks leaked at the same time from (as far as I can see) the same source, I'm inclined to agree.

[Adoxe]

How is this convincing evidence about Diablo 4?
Wowhead got sent a book, a pre production sample (or whatever you call it) and it was in a PDF file.


Few things why:
- never before seen content is in the book and they actually wanna sell some copies before it gets spoiled on the internet
- they were still busy working out what would or would not make the cut so maybe thats why the 100% certain parts got sent to Wowhead
- a lot of stuff in books and films dies on the cutting room floor or when reviewed externally because it doesnt appeal to people according to sources.

I still dont see a 100% confirmed reason for Diablo 4 in there.

I do think we all ''think'' it might come because it got cancelled last year, but it might also end up becoming the new Half-Life 2 (or whatever game it was)

Diablo 4 is basically the only thing that is absolutely 100% certain for this Blizzcon. Even if the Wowhead post has nothing to do with it which I find unlikely, the 2 Kotaku articles with ex-employee from last year and this year, the post from the German article a week or so ago, and the huge empty space where Diablo demo would be on the Blizzcon map with no other signs of a Diablo area are telling us enough.

i saw that tweet and picture, and i dont doubt a Diablo 4 game.

However using Wowhead as source who only says: we didnt get the full PDF so hur hur hur we are getting Diablo 4 or something along those lines is just using a lot of imagination.

Posted the above reply before I saw your follow up. Thought you were saying Diablo 4 ain't happening at all. Oh well, gonna leave the initial post unedited anyway in case someone else has any doubts about it.

[Feali]

Well, I'm signing off for tonight and I'll probably be gone for most of tomorrow as I'm going to a convention.

I think all of the leaks posted by WeakAuras are real. I was doubtful at first, but the situation with Diablo 4 adds more credibility to whatever or whoever their source may be.

Please ping me about any new leaks (both images and written ones) so I can add them to the spreadsheet!

@ercarp don't leave I just found this

[huth]

This is all too fucking amazing. No joke, when I was thinking of how DIV could be a sequel (before I decided a prequel is much more likely) I figured Lilith would be a good villain since everybody else is dead. She is supposedly trapped in the Void or some shit, but maybe Malthael sucked her soul out of there and into the Black Soulstone. Which of course shattered, freeing everyone. Including her. If she is indeed the villain, or at least A villain of Diablo IV, I will ruin my pants.

Please use scissors. Or at least, don't post evidence.

- - - Updated - - -

Okay, I'm neither a graphics analyist or a huge fan of leaks, but boy, oh boy:

1) we've got quite badass looking The Bolvar of something that looks like a scene from a cinematic;

Important things are important.

[Krille]

A leak like this is a leak not to hype things up, it’s a leak that shouldn’t have happened.

Again, if you market your expansion with a line - new abilities - you clearly won’t release a new class in the end.

If this is legit it’s from a presentation or preview website officially from Blizzard to be live within the announcement which means you have all the big stuff already enlisted right there.

Low fidelity/early concept leaks can be made by the actual company to drive hype. They don't actual reveal anything because a lot of people wont believe it, and a lot of new ppl might check out the event because they wanna confirm if its true or not. So leaks can very much be a deliberate PR strategy.

[jjuice32]

A leak like this is a leak not to hype things up, it’s a leak that shouldn’t have happened.

Again, if you market your expansion with a line - new abilities - you clearly won’t release a new class in the end.

If it's all from that pdf file they sent to WoWhead or whatever, which pages were missing apparently, then they knew it was going to be leaked. They were just able to control what was leaked to public.

New abilities doesn't mean no new class. We got new abilities in Legion and got a new class. They've even talked about bringing back things that were pruned and I would imagine new abilities would go along with that.

[HailArthas]

The thing about the WeakAuras leak or whatever, is that it's vague. It's just what looks like a promotional insert in a booklet (Diablo Artwork book?) and that is the kinda stuff that I think could genuinely leak ahead of time. Not a forum post with the entire plot line of the entire game laid out upfront.

[ercarp]

@ercarp don't leave I just found this

I can't believe you've done this.

(Signing off for real now.)

[Adoxe]

The thing about the WeakAuras leak or whatever, is that it's vague. It's just what looks like a promotional insert in a booklet (Diablo Artwork book?) and that is the kinda stuff that I think could genuinely leak ahead of time. Not a forum post with the entire plot line of the entire game laid out upfront.

Exactly, OW2 and Shadowlands would be promo inserts in the Diablo artbook, similarly to how we had Book of Tyrael insert in one of the Chronicle books if I remember correctly?

Edit: Nevermind, Tyrael/Cain came out before Chronicle, I was confusing it with something else not sure what

[Augusta138]

Diablo 4 is basically the only thing that is absolutely 100% certain for this Blizzcon. Even if the Wowhead post has nothing to do with it which I find unlikely, the 2 Kotaku articles with ex-employee from last year and this year, the post from the German article a week or so ago, and the huge empty space where Diablo demo would be on the Blizzcon map with no other signs of a Diablo area are telling us enough.



Posted the above reply before I saw your follow up. Thought you were saying Diablo 4 ain't happening at all. Oh well, gonna leave the initial post unedited anyway in case someone else has any doubts about it.

Its not about Diablo 4 or its release, i am almost 100% certain we will see a D4 announcement.
But as we see in a lot of threads on Mmo-champ, people read so much in so little.

We didnt get the full PDF, so i cant comment on D4 art in the new book (thats basically what perculia said)

Gets interpreted as:
Diablo 4 is coming boys the hype is real, this IS the evidence we are getting Diablo 4.

Reading comprehension and understanding what is being written is pretty important, yes we are all hyped. yes we all want new expansion / diablo content whatever.

But keep it real. Thats my major point. Seeing things that aren't there.

[Marlamin]

With the fact that 3 very legitimate looking leaks leaked at the same time from (as far as I can see) the same source, I'm inclined to agree.

To clarify before anyone misconstrues it, I mean the 3 things WeakAuras posted after they reposted the The Bolvar's cinematic still. I'm not including that because I'm still on the fence regarding that one. Great art, not so great punctuation.

[Zexaniro]

when people say that BFA class design is shit do they mean class identity? classes run very smooth and are enjoyable imo. only issue is that they're not unique enough and can all do the same thing albeit with different animations (self heal, CC etc)

[Adoxe]

Its not about Diablo 4 or its release, i am almost 100% certain we will see a D4 announcement.
But as we see in a lot of threads on Mmo-champ, people read so much in so little.

We didnt get the full PDF, so i cant comment on D4 art in the new book (thats basically what perculia said)

Gets interpreted as:
Diablo 4 is coming boys the hype is real, this IS the evidence we are getting Diablo 4.

Reading comprehension and understanding what is being written is pretty important, yes we are all hyped. yes we all want new expansion / diablo content whatever.

But keep it real. Thats my major point. Seeing things that aren't there.

Fair enough.

[Krille]

Its not about Diablo 4 or its release, i am almost 100% certain we will see a D4 announcement.
But as we see in a lot of threads on Mmo-champ, people read so much in so little.

We didnt get the full PDF, so i cant comment on D4 art in the new book (thats basically what perculia said)

Gets interpreted as:
Diablo 4 is coming boys the hype is real, this IS the evidence we are getting Diablo 4.

Reading comprehension and understanding what is being written is pretty important, yes we are all hyped. yes we all want new expansion / diablo content whatever.

But keep it real. Thats my major point. Seeing things that aren't there.

Do you understand what speculation is? Obviously you can't discuss things that are already there, wouldnt be much discussion. Predicting what is real and what is not is the fun of it. Have some imagination.

[Nagawithlegs]

To clarify before anyone misconstrues it, I mean the 3 things WeakAuras posted after they reposted the The Bolvar's cinematic still. I'm not including that because I'm still on the fence regarding that one. Great art, not so great punctuation.

The Bolvar's weirdness (the eyes, cool new hammer, Arthas wannabe cosplay) coupled with the seemingly correct title name makes me think it's legit.

It's still funny that it leaked with a legitimately photoshopped image (likely by someone at Blizzard, but still).

[Nyel]

Exactly, OW2 and Shadowlands would be promo inserts in the Diablo artbook, similarly to how we had Book of Tyrael insert in one of the Chronicle books if I remember correctly?

Edit: Nevermind, Tyrael/Cain came out before Chronicle, I was confusing it with something else not sure what

Yeah and if it’s just an ad in a promo booklet you would have your best stuff listed there. In the end it’s still there to sell. If you have a new class available you list it there. They apparently listed the new race after all so there is no point to leave out a possible new class from that ad. Especially not when it’s the biggest selling factor overall.

[Revamp Man]

A leak like this is a leak not to hype things up, it’s a leak that shouldn’t have happened.

Again, if you market your expansion with a line - new abilities - you clearly won’t release a new class in the end.

If this is legit it’s from a presentation or preview website officially from Blizzard to be live within the announcement which means you have all the big stuff already enlisted right there.

Might be because there's a slide with the new class as a kinda *drops mic* moment

[Augusta138]

Do you understand what speculation is? Obviously you can't discuss things that are already there, wouldnt be much discussion. Predicting what is real and what is not is the fun of it. Have some imagination.

You didn't read my post, thats for sure.

[Feali]

when people say that BFA class design is shit do they mean class identity? classes run very smooth and are enjoyable imo. only issue is that they're not unique enough and can all do the same thing albeit with different animations (self heal, CC etc)

This is based on mainly Rogue play but all 3 specs feel like they are missing something. Which is mostly due to the hole that the artifact weapons left when they were destroyed.
Outlaw is just Blade Flurry with clunky as fuck gameplay.
Assa is the same shit for the last 7 years
Sub is just badly designed. Unless you have exactly 100% uptime on a target you are basically useless.