Just when you thought it couldn't get any harder than Diablo II's "Hell" difficulty, Diablo III ups the ante by adding on "Inferno" as the hardest difficulty level to play on. With a character level cap at 60, Inferno will only be available to those who hit that plateau. Why? Well because the minimum level of enemies on the Inferno difficulty will be 61.
Jay Wilson from Blizzard explains to Kotaku just what can be expected in Inferno.
The armor sets acquired on the Inferno difficulty will be visually distinct from items obtained at lower difficulties. This should be interesting for those looking to make use of the new real-world monetary auction house in Diablo III.
Jay Wilson from Blizzard explains to Kotaku just what can be expected in Inferno.
The idea was that we wanted a difficulty mode where the entire game was viable," Wilson says. "So you don't have to pick and choose key areas [to replay]." Diablo III's Inferno difficulty, he says, will be "very difficult, very challenging," presenting a "flattened" difficulty experience that Blizzard hopes will provide a more balanced, but more challenging end game for Diablo diehards.
That "flattened" difficulty will mean, Blizzard hopes, that players revisit the entire world of Diablo III seeking bigger and bolder challenges, not just go on "Mephisto runs" or fight a specific breed of minion in search of experience points and sweet loot drops.
"We do expect there to be a certain amount of... runs to get items, but we wanted players to do it over a lot more content," Wilson said. "We're trying to make sure that there's a lot more opportunities for players to see a lot more variety." Wilson added that if player behavior does eventually lead to tightly focused runs in Diablo III, the developer may make adjustments for that by encouraging (and rewarding) players for having more diverse replays.
Inferno difficulty naturally comes with rewards beyond sightseeing, Wilson says. Some armor, weapons and items will be exclusive to Inferno (while other highly coveted items will drop more frequently at that level). Some of the game's Runestones, the socketable items that modify player skills and spells, are also found only in Inferno, offering all new abilities to those willing to run the risk of playing at the top tier difficulty—or willing to pay for the good stuff in Diablo III's auction house.
That "flattened" difficulty will mean, Blizzard hopes, that players revisit the entire world of Diablo III seeking bigger and bolder challenges, not just go on "Mephisto runs" or fight a specific breed of minion in search of experience points and sweet loot drops.
"We do expect there to be a certain amount of... runs to get items, but we wanted players to do it over a lot more content," Wilson said. "We're trying to make sure that there's a lot more opportunities for players to see a lot more variety." Wilson added that if player behavior does eventually lead to tightly focused runs in Diablo III, the developer may make adjustments for that by encouraging (and rewarding) players for having more diverse replays.
Inferno difficulty naturally comes with rewards beyond sightseeing, Wilson says. Some armor, weapons and items will be exclusive to Inferno (while other highly coveted items will drop more frequently at that level). Some of the game's Runestones, the socketable items that modify player skills and spells, are also found only in Inferno, offering all new abilities to those willing to run the risk of playing at the top tier difficulty—or willing to pay for the good stuff in Diablo III's auction house.
The armor sets acquired on the Inferno difficulty will be visually distinct from items obtained at lower difficulties. This should be interesting for those looking to make use of the new real-world monetary auction house in Diablo III.
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