Blizzard has announced the Diablo III expansion titled Reaper of Souls today at Gamescom 2013. New to the game will be the Crusader hero, a new Act, an increased level cap to 70, new end game options, and plenty of new monsters for our heroes to smash, game director Josh Mosqueira unveiled at the press conference. Taking on the role of main villain will be Maltheal, the Angel of Death as was rumored by the title Reaper of Souls. Undoubtedly listening to the harsh critics from Diablo III‘s release, Art Director Christian Lichtner explained how the expansion will be much darker.
The expansion will take place in Westmarch, which Blizzard described as “the gothic power of the west.” As for the Crusader class, it will be similar to Diablo II‘s Paladin class and is considered a mid-ranged melee class that uses a shield. The concept is interesting, considering two-handed or dual-wield setups reign supreme currently in Diablo III. It would be no surprise if Blizzard is adding new mechanics to the game to make equipping a shield more viable or advantageous, even for other classes. Chances are, it’s a strength-based hero given that the game currently only has one.
Mosqueira also addressed the biggest current flaw in Diablo III, the loot system. For months now, players have been teased about Loot 2.0 and Mosquiera spilled some details on the system, which includes “Smart Drops,” where for each piece of loot that drops, there will be a chance that its stats are more suited to the class that you’re currently playing. The game director also confirmed that loot will drop less, but will be better and more meaningful, something Travis Day has been expressing for months as well. The team showed off some of the new legendaries that could be making its way into the game, such as a wand that gives the Wizard class a chance of summoning Hydras – again, another idea that Day’s already spoken about in the past.
Reaper of Souls will also finally see the addition of the Mystic artisan (originally in beta) to enchant your items, allowing you to reroll an affix in a rare or legendary and transmogrify the appearance of your items, the first “real” customization Blizzard has given Diablo III players. We say real since dyeing legendaries isn’t currently in the game, and well, most every class ends up using legendaries for a majority of their pieces.
As for new end game content, Blizzard is rethinking the end game entirely, finding new ways to keep players interested. One of those ideas is loot runs, which are short dungeons that are completely randomized. There will also be changes to the Paragon system: Paragon levels will now be account wide, rather than on an individual character, and there will no longer be a cap (!!!). In addition, players will be able to customize their stat points through Paragon 2.0, including attack, defense, and utility.
The expansion and the Crusader class is playable at Gamescom 2013, so we expect Blizzard to reveal more information on Reaper of Souls in the coming weeks. It will be interesting to see if all these concepts will address the major issues that currently plague Diablo III.
Updated: Loot runs will involve 15-30 minute dungeons that are entirely randomized: random map, weather, and boss at the end, that has a chance to drop a rare or legendary. It’s worth noting that Blizzard revealed some extremely high DPS weapons, including a 3k+ DPS wand and a 3k+ DPS Monk Fist weapons. Loot 2.0 is certainly shaping up to be everything players have wanted, including an updated Puzzle Ring with over +300 Int on it. It appears that Blizzard has drastically scaled its items for Level 70, something they tend to have a habit of doing with expansions. Also, the Paragon 2.0 system will be unlimited levels with unlimited points, though we’re unsure on how it will affect Magic Find and Gold Find, but we assume that those points will be allocated under the utility tab.
View the gameplay trailer for the Diablo III expansion, Reaper of Souls below.
