Diablo was the topic of one of the first sessions on the day one at BlizzCon 2008. and it is the primary player in one of the final D2R ladder items. However, whereas the first focused on providing a better understanding of the skills set of the newest member to join Diablo–the wizard–the second focused heavily on Blizzard’s philosophy for game design in the game of action and demons.

Diablo principal designer Jay Wilson and technical game director Wyatt Cheng returned to helm the panel, with Cheng being a silent co-presenter. Just as he had done just several hours before, Wilson began by looking at the background of Diablo.

It is important to note the key gameplay elements of the series. Diablo, Wilson began, was a revival of the market for role-playing games, with a simple, action-based game featuring random dungeons, as well as items drops. Diablo’s principal contribution was to further refine the mechanics of the firstgame, as well as to vastly expand the game’s universe.

With these things being in place, Wilson sketched out his vision of what his team and he wanted to achieve through Diablo. In the first place, it was vital to stay true to the Diablo experience. “We needed a game that, players played, they basically said, ‘Yeah this feels good.'”

Additionally, the design lead stated that it was crucial that the game feel visceral and that every second was intense and significant. It was also essential for the Blizzard team to further enhance the RPG experience without taking the player’s attention away from the game’s hack-andslash origins.

Importantly, Wilson said that the Diablo team has come up with a variety of innovative ways to give the game an RPG inclination, like the rune system, which was revealed during the meeting this morning buy diablo 2 resurrected items. He added that it’s “something to discuss in the future months…and years to come.”