Blizzard has defied convention and announced dates earlier than usual for BlizzCon 2011. The gathering will take place on the 21st and 22nd of October at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.

BlizzCon is a celebration of all things Blizzard and the company’s primary platform for announcements and revelations regarding its blockbuster franchises Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo.

Ticket sales haven’t been announced but they usually sell out within seconds of becoming available, so if you happen to know you’ll be in California in October, or if you’re considering heading to the event, watch this space closely.

 

At Gameplanet, we've been following Diablo III with the kind of fervour that would result in a restraining order were Deckard Cain a real person. Each year at BlizzCon we've watched the game grow as another of Blizzard's lengthy development cycles rolls on.

The demo available this year consisted of two dungeons, the Halls of Agony and Leoric’s Hold, joined by a brief passage of play above ground in the New Tristram wilderness.

The first thing you’ll notice when playing Diablo III is something that no number of screenshots or action-oriented montage videos can impart, the atmosphere – a great deal of which is owed to the sound design. The draft through a tomb reverberates to become a deep, hollow drone. A drop of water magnifies in the silence to a boom, footfalls echo and then splash through a puddle. The pale blue hue of Leoric’s Hold feels cold.

 

According to MMO Game Site, Diablo III will be released at the end of next year, followed by two expansions in 2012 and 2013.

The chart – which looks about as professional as the aforementioned website – also contains dates for StarCraft II’s expansions, the next two World of Warcraft expansions and “Titan” a new intellectual property due late 2013. Presumably it’s a codename for Blizzard’s unannounced MMO.

 

According to Blizzard's own website, Diablo III may be coming to console at some stage.

Diablo III job vacancies posted this week include "Lead Programmer, Console" and "Lead Designer, Console", with requirements including "select and hire new engineers to form the team".

Despite these postings, Blizzard are unwilling to confirm that Diablo III will ship for console at release, and have instead issued the following disclaimer;

 

The BlizzCon Diablo III open Q&A session was led by Jay Wilson, Game Director, and featured nine additional Diablo III developers on location at BlizzCon this morning.

From the hour-long session, we've learned the following...

On PvP:

• PvP and PvE are completely separate elements in the game, and the focus is on PvE.
• No PvP stats or skills will ever override PvE builds. PvP never affects PvE game balance.
• Some stats may change in the PvP Arena, such as cooldowns.
• The Arena, at this stage, is a flat environment. It's difficult to incorporate different elevations due to the new 3D engine.
• At end-game, it's likely creating a perfect PvP char will be a drawcard for some.
• Blizzard hasn't decided how to handle PvP guilds at this time.
• No PvP-specific gear will be available.
• Ears will not be stored in your inventory, but they will be included in the final game.
• PvP Hardcore - you can die in the arena. If you don't want to die, don't go in the arena.
• Actively trying to discourage the Arena from becoming an E-sport, as it will detract from the point of Diablo, which is to acheive superiority rather than balance.
• Duel-spec probably won't be needed, as PvP won't have enough of an impact on PvE.

 

GP: There have been several big reveals this morning regarding Diablo III, including the PvP system. Is it teams only in the Battle Arena?

Jay: Right now yeah, we’re focused completely on team vs. team play. The PvP system isn’t e-sport focused, and not as focused on uber-balance, we want it to be a more casual mode and we also want to account for the fact that there are so many different builds. Some players are going to build their characters better than others and there are going to be certain builds that are weak against other builds. When you have a team it’s a kind of cover off any weaknesses.

GP: Do you have any ideas about team sizes yet?

 

The second BlizzCon Diablo III panel kicked off with Jay explaining how Diablo and Diablo II had drawn-out narratives that broke the gameplay immersion. The focus on Diablo III is to "play, don't tell". Jay demonstrated this with an in-game video showing a character being escorted through a level whilst an NPC narrated the story process.

In addition, Lorebooks have been introduced. These fall as treasure, and narrate the story in the background while you continue to play through the level. The example shown had King Leoric talking about his original encounter with Diablo, and the madness that ensued.

After this, other panellists discussed various aspects art and design aspects, starting with Bastion's Keep, a siege level in Diablo III. Blizzard noted that sieges are perfect - they're easy to design, they have awesome action and everyone knows the deal.