Diablo III: Not Just a Vitality Race!

[The_Jackal]

Anyone know how the skill/spell system works yet? Is it like Diablo 2?

Far from it. Skills scale directly off your stats, you have access to a number of skill slots based on your level. The maximum is... 6 I think? You get 4 by the end of the Beta (level 13). There's no more synergies, or deep stacking of skill point to make your skills better, they just work, and scale as you level, and get better equipment. So build decisions are more like choosing what colour outfit you're wearing, and less like a permanent life-changing decision.

If your idea of replay value is throwing out a perfectly good character because someone nerfed your build in the last patch, then this is bad news. Otherwise, it's great news.

How exactly skills will be switched is currently in flux. You used to have to go back to town to switch, now switching triggers a long (30-60 second) cooldown on the switched slot.

I still don't see the purpose in forcing people to log onto battlenet to play single player.

Cheaters, pirates and revenue. The RMAH is how D3 is expected to pay for itself. Forcing people to play online forces them to play by the rules. No cheats for infinite gear, uber powerful runewords, etc. If you want awesome D3 gear, you'll have one of two ways to get it: 1) Play until it drops. 2) Pay someone else who had it drop. It forcibly expands their RMAH to include their entire player base.

If you don't have a good internet connection, don't buy D3. It's that simple. The only influence you have on Activision is how you spend your money on their products. Use it.