Official Blizzard Quote:
We’re focusing on customization through items as they can be seen better from how far away the camera is from the character.

OK, so no character customization except for items. I guess I can live with that, just promise me this will speed up development, so you’re ready for 2011 release!

Official Blizzard Quote:

Did we not already talk about that? Think we did. Like the cap raises another five every difficulty level? So when you reach hell difficulty the caps would be at 15? No? Did we not say that at the last BlizzCon? Think we did.

So the skill cap will be 15 at Hell difficulty. I think that makes perfect sense, you need more damage per skill depending on the difficulty level. Unless there’s a fourth difficulty introduced. Then it will be EXACTLY like Diablo 2 with skills capped at 20!

I hope there’s a bit more Diablo 3 info and gameplay videos at Blizzcon come October.

First, I’m really looking forward to playing it. More importantly, however, I’d like to see Blizzard’s marketing machine be done with Starcraft 2 and the upcoming WoW expansion (Dec release?).

Are we going to see a July 2011 release for Diablo 3? I’m keeping my fingers crossed it’s even sooner than that!

In addition to the Diablo 3 jokes, Blizzard also introduced a matchmaking service for Battle.net.

The default search on the site is for a Psionic alien, looking for a hot date, between levels of 30 and 60!

The final news item in the April’s jokes series concerns Blizzard’s foray into mobile gaming. They have introduced two games for iPhone/iPad:

Blackthorne 2: Thorne Harder – Guide Kyle Blackthorne on an epic quest to save Earth from almost certain destruction in this long-awaited sequel.
Queen’s Quest – Using a revolutionary new “natural language interface,” Queen’s Quest will challenge you like no game has ever before.

I’m a big fan of Starcraft, even though Diablo 3 has suffered some neglect because of it. It will keep me occupied till Diablo 3 comes out in 2011.

I think the new screenshots speak for themselves. They’re definitely more contrasty and have plenty of dark areas. The outside areas (Act II?) are looking similar to Luth Golein, so Blizzard seems to have taken to heart the pleas of their fan base.

Jay Wilson: Throughout the history of patches on Diablo II, there were a lot of updates to runewords and they really powerful from when they were introduced. At one time or another though all of the different item types were the most powerful, like unique items were the best, or rare items at some point.

Our general approach for Diablo III is to make sure that every type of item has a place to be useful. For example, maybe we’ll have a legendary item, which is the new name for our unique items, be the best helm, whereas rares will have the most powerful chest armor, and so on. Having a spread like that will allow for a more varied itemization system we hope.

I think we’ll still be stuck collecting exotic components but time will tell if Diablo 3 will be like Diablo 2 item-wise.

It does look very much like the same skill in Starcraft II – the one that the Protoss mothership had. Anyway, it’s a fine animation, hopefully the finished game isn’t too heavy… I don’t want to upgrade my hardware so I can stop time.