The Diablo III class panel started off with a brief overview from Jay Wilson on the skill system, where it is, what they've considered, and also what they learned not only from Diablo and Diablo II, but also World of Warcraft.
Skill System and what was learned
- Diablo
- Skills obtained from books
- Pros
- Simple
- Getting a random book drop was exciting
- Cons
- Low class differentiation
- Lack of character customization
- Random nature hard on game balance
- Diablo II
- Skill Tree
- Pros
- Strong class differentiation
- Many different possible builds
- Cons
- Encouraged players to focus on only a few skills
- Tree had Unwanted skills
- Many skills didn't need 20 points
- No Respec
- Patch 1.10 - Synergies
- Allowed additional strategy in customizing your character build
- Lessened point saving, but didn't eliminate
- Added additional complexity and confusion
- World of Warcraft
- Talent system evolved from Diablo II
- Separated skill acquisition from customization
- Works for Diablo
- Point hoarding not valid
- More options as you build
- Respec
- Doesn't work for Diablo
- Fewer builds less customization
- Low impact on character
- High number of skills
"The skill system has to seamlessly transition from normal to hell and nightmare," said Jay Wilson. With that in mind, the team had to weigh in on ideas based on past experiences as well as what they've learned from World of Warcraft's talent system. They tried many types of various skills, some which didn't really make sense and were similar to other ideas, such as a Radial Skill System, Radial Beads, Skill Wheel, Skill Cards, Skill Rings, Hex Advancement, and more.
In the end, the team decided to simply evolve the Diablo II skill system. Synergies will be integrated as new skills, a new Rune System will be introduced to further enhance skills -- making them truly unique based on rune choices -- and of course the most important: Diablo III will have respecs for the skill system.
The skill system is not final, and Wilson even made sure to point out some of the flaws in it, but Blizzard feels they're on the right track with it now and it should be something fairly impactful to take advantage of as you level up.
