This most recent forum discussion on battle.net has gotten Bashiok to share his own thoughts regarding the proposed skills system of Diablo 3. It's not a fresh one but somewhat like the combat system of the PlayStation game "Legend of Dragoon". They proposed that the skills will improved the more it's used in battle. In Legend of Dragoon, the characters skill become stronger with repeated use, granting added benefitis such as more damage or more (....) points gained per strike.

Bashiok: [source]

I think it's really cool in principle but doesn't always work out, and is certainly better suited to certain types of games. It's the very realistic concept of 'as you practice something you get better at it'. And that's easily understood through mechanics with very little information given to the player. You swing your sword, and hey, you skilled up in your knowledge of using a sword! You don't wonder where that came from, you know that as you play your character you'll become better at the things you like to do. That's awesome.

What ends up happening though, I find, is through the infinite goal of the player to make their character as powerful as possible as quickly as possible, it turns from a concept of reality into this twisted game of getting near a rat, putting a stapler on the crouch key, and going to work while your stealth skill auto-levels. Obviously that's an extreme case but it sort of points out a flaw in the system. You can and will do things that are very unnatural to gain skill levels that do not keep in the fundamental theme of roleplaying in which the system solely exists for.

It's a cool system, it just doesn't always translate from pen & paper to video games very well. And a multiplayer action-RPG like Diablo? It just doesn't fit thematically.

That's just my personal take on it though.

Will it only work on monsters that will gain you experience, which is the typical restriction to prevent spamming. Or can the skill improve on Players and lower level monsters? Will the monsters be color coded like World of Warcraft, gray, green and red, symbolizing the range of the monsters' level within your own. A higher increase in skills fighting a much harder monsters? Yeah, I love this system but would it work on a multi-player action rpg...single player (which is not included in Diablo 3) could work.

Bashiok has mentioned a few flaws of this system, what is your opinion on this topic?

Would you like to see charms in Diablo 3? Filling up your inventory? The charms were a major influence in creating different unique builds that dominated in pvp and pve. At the moment, the development team currently has no plans to add this type of item to Diablo III.

Bashiok's input on the topic: [source]

"Charms are cool. Randomized item drops that give passive bonuses while held? That's a cool way for someone to actively change their character beyond just skills and armor/weapons. Making it an inventory space decision; however, isn't very cool. You were trading inventory space for character power, which is sort of an interesting trade but also one that is directly and immediately punishing. It's not like giving up ... say ... health to do more damage. You aren't deciding that your play style can overcome your decisions on how to balance your character. Everyone needs inventory space regardless of how they want to play, so it becomes a mandate that if you want to do X, you better get ready to throw down a lot of town portals. Fun? Eh.

We don't have charms at the moment, but it's a mechanic we like the idea of as long as it doesn't become an inventory space vs. power decision. They're one of those things that certainly could come back but that we haven't fully explored yet."

Therefore, we can't really eliminate it from Diablo 3, perhaps it returns in another form.

"The camera does not zoom or tilt or rotate, it's a fixed camera." said Diablo 3 Community Manager Bashiok: Nov. 3rd 2009.

Not much has changed, as Bashiok in a recent forum post re-confirmed the unfortunate news. It would be held only a slight zoom on character when they enter into a conversation with an NPC.

Bashiok: [source]

"The character is in all its greatness and glory of rotating to see the character selection screen. At least for the moment."

A forum member expresses that he would like to see what his character looks like when he picks up a new loot [armor or weapon] and be able to examine it in the inventory screen or on the battlefield, not only in the selection screen.

Bashiok: [source]

 

The difference in items is very apparent, you'll notice your upgrades even from the game camera distance"

Thanks to a Battle.net crackdown on abuses and hacks, Blizzard has imposed a BAN on 320,000 Warcraft 3 and Diablo 2 accounts that we found violating the Battle.Net terms of use. For players that violated the rules of Battle.net for the first time, the CD key associated with the banned account will be suspended for 30 days, and could be permanently banned if abused continued. [source]

Bashiok emphasized that many bans were due to haters snitching on others to the "HACK TEAM" or they've encouraged players to report cheaters through its Hacks Report Form so that more ban hammer justice can be doled out. Therefore, if you're using a third-party mod as of now, keep it to yourself or get ready for some ass-whooping.

"We would like all players to remember that abuse of unintended mechanics and/or use of third party programs is a violation of the agreement made when signing on to Battle.net, and can subject your account to disciplinary action up to and including a permanent ban of its access to the service. These types of activities can severely impact the stability of our servers, and we’ll continue to aggressively monitor Battle.net in order to protect the service and its players from the harmful effects of cheating."

The hammer of justice strikes again...

Proceed with caution...

Do you know anyone who got caught up in the ban? Do you think  does a good job of policing itself? Sound off in the comment section below.

So what are some things to do in the beta?

Take a look around the new Battle.Net

Thisis going to be your home for the next decade or so if you're a Blizzardfan, and the good news is that this thing is slamming. The interface issimple to use, the social aspects tie into the game, and everythingfeels zippy and smooth.

When you chat with a friend,the window can be moved anywhere onscreen; you can check your friend'sprofiles to see their win-loss record and recent games, and everythingis placed exactly where itneeds to be. If you're lucky enough to havewrangled a beta invite, spend some time just getting used to the new digs. Blizzard has put together something very special.

The Main Screen

Take a quick glance at the header image of this preview, as that is the first thing you will see when you jump into the StarCraft 2 beta. The top left has tabs for Single-player and Muliplayer (only the multiplayer tab is accessible right now), as well as tabs, from left to right under the gameplay tabs, for Home, Replays, Ladder, Social (grayed out), Achievements (grayed out), Profile, and Help (also grayed out).

In the upper-right corner, there's your nickname and profile picture. And if you look to the bottom, you will see your Options menu to the left and buttons for muting your microphone, opening your Friend’s List, and a clock on the right.

Blizzard's "Bornakk" noted upcoming features:

"... in the future, players will be able to use Battle.net to participate incross-realm chat in World of Warcraft, create real-life friends lists,communicate across different games, and a whole lot more"

Through the Friend’s List, users will be able to chat, see what games their friends are playing (WoW, Diablo III, SC2, etc...), and invite them to competitive matches in StarCraft 2, (Public / Private D3 room Invites?)

The chat will also be cross-game, where someone playing World of Warcraft can talk, through Battle.net, to a friend playing StarCraft 2 for example. Anyone who has used Steam knows how this works, but it’s nice to get that functionality in the new Battle.net. Supposedly, World of Warcraft will get a patch around the time StarCraft 2 is released to enable this feature.

Learn from your enemies

Your matches are saved as replays in Battle.net, so you can go back and take notes on exactly what went right and what went wrong. You can watch the game from your perspective or from your enemy's, and you can pause, fast-forward and rewind. It's all very easy to use. The ability to zoom into the fight also allows you to enjoy all the eye-candy without worrying about messing up your game.

After losing, which is happening frequently to me right now, it's great to go back and see exactly what my opponents did. How quickly did they explore? Where did they send scouts? What's their build order? Knowledge is going to be viral in StarCraft 2, with every move you make becoming an open book after each match. This may annoy those who like to keep their strategies secret, but for those of us who aren't as skilled at real-time strategy games, every match is going tobe like going to school.

Your replays can be accessed by hitting the camera icon in the upper right portion of the screen, and they're arranged by type of game or just in chronological order. You can save or delete them at will, or organize them into folders. It's simple, and makes learning the game a snap.

Where are my channels?

It's not all wine and roses in the new Battle.Net, though. Gamers are used to idling in this channel or that channel, talking about games or setting up matches. Yes, back in the day it was filled with spam, but that was also a part of the experience. At the moment, you're not talking or interacting with anyone else unless you're interacting with your friends or in a game.

Chat will most likely be coming to the final version of the service, but even with all the social aspects of the new Battle.Net, it can feel slightly lonely if no friends are online and you're looking for a game.

 Continue to Starcraft II Beta - Battle.Net 2.0 Summary