BlizzCon 2018 Diablo Immortal World and Q&A Panel Transcript

DIABLO IMMORTAL: ZONES

Wyatt: Cool! Awesome! Thanks, Matthew. So, yesterday we looked at 3 outdoor shared zones and 3 Instance Dungeons for 4-player parties. And we’re going to take a closer look at some of those zones starting with the Bilefen. The Bilefen is located in southern Khanduras. It’s actually an island just off the southern tip of Khanduras, and it’s got a port town there.

There is a small port town called Port Justinian, and people of Port Justinian have a problem. There is all sorts of creatures, and those fetish monsters that are making life very difficult for travelers coming in and out of the port, as well as for the people of Port Justinian. It’ll be your job to go and help them, but while you’re there, there’s a wizard named Jen.

Jen comes from the far away region of Xiansai, and Jen is there looking for some relics that were lost here in the Bilefen. The Bilefen is also the entrance, holds the entrance to one of our Instance Dungeons: The Kikuras Rapids, which we previewed yesterday; and we’ll have a closer look at today.

Here’s a look at some of the gameplay in the Bilefen. As we mentioned, this is where you’ll come across Jen. There’s also in addition, a number of different beasts, and spiders, and snakes.

Matt: There are bog lurkers.

Wyatt: The bog lurkers. We wanted to have a swampy area that’s kind of reflective of basically the small island. There is a Worldstone fragment that has landed here in the Bilefen; and that Worldstone fragment is spreading corruption and making things a whole lot worse.

So next, let’s have a look at Zoltun Kulle’s library. We mentioned yesterday that Zoltun Kulle actually has a number of small caches stored all over Sanctuary.

And this is not the same as the archives of Zoltun Kulle that we see in Diablo III. The archives of Zoltun Kulle is one place where Zoltun Kulle kept his stuff, and the library is another. Except another fragment, another corrupted fragment of the Worldstone Shard has fallen here.

Matt: I’m not sure stuff properly describe what’s Zoltun Kulle keeps.

Wyatt: More specifically, there’s like artifacts, he does research, there’s scientific experiments that Zoltun Kulle would do.

Matt: It’s horrible, it’s dangerous.

Wyatt: There’s traps that he’s laid out against potential invaders. And the best part, the library is guarded by a curator; and Zoltun Kulle being the egomaniac that he is, has left the curator there. The curator is actually a simulacrum of Zoltun Kulle. The curator is a copy of Zoltun Kulle.

Matt: He made a copy of himself?

Wyatt: Because he’s an egomaniac. And the best part is the copy doesn’t know that he’s a copy. So hilarity ensues. From Zoltun Kulle’s library we travel East. Far East to Eastern Kehjistan. This is past Caldeum to the Shassar Sea.

Here in this Shassar Sea, you’ll find a young Valla training with her master Josen. Valla’s history much like many Demon Hunters is one filled with anguish.

Her home village was ravaged by a demon invasion. Everybody in her village was slain, and she is the lone survivor. She came across Josen who is training this young Valla, and teaching her to take her anguish and her pain, and channeling it to fuel a desire for revenge against all demons. It is here in the Shassar Sea that Valla and Josen have caught wind that a demon nest has formed, and they are there to slay demons, as Demon Hunters do.

Matt: Seems right.

Wyatt: So, those are some of the outdoor zones that we have in Diablo Immortal. Next up, let’s start looking at some Instance Dungeons. As we mentioned yesterday, the Instance Dungeons are 4-player dungeons for a specific crafted experience. Whereas in the outdoor world monsters respawn over time, in the Instance Dungeons the monsters stay dead. There’s also mechanics that we can do in an Instance Dungeon that we wouldn’t normally be able to do.

Like this rope sequence down, where you’re rappelling down a cavern. The Tomb of Fahir is actually divided up into 3 different segments. In the outer-most section, you and your party need to unlock two seals to make your way into the inner sanctum. There you descend down the rope and face off against the Brood Mother.

Matt: Not even an Arachnophobia warning?

Wyatt: Oh, yeah! Arachnophobia warning! Yeah!

Matt: Or really creepy birthing pods on her back.

Wyatt: Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I think I saw this in the shower the other day, that was–

Matt: No! No! If you saw that it would take up the whole bathroom.

Wyatt: But if you defeat the Brood Mother, you can then make your way into the inner part of the Tomb of Fahir.

Matt: And it’s worse?

Wyatt: Oh, much worse! Much worse! Another Instance Dungeon that we’re going to be looking at is the Kikuras Rapids.

The Kikuras Rapids– we’ve kind of mentioned that Instance Dungeons lets us do things that we wouldn’t be able to do in the outdoor world. In the case of the Kikuras Rapids, you begin by making your way along the river banks of the Bilefen until you get to the riverside, and there, you’ll commandeer a boat.

Matt: Not a boat.

Wyatt: You’ll commandeer a raft.

Matt: Not a raft.

Wyatt: You’ll commandeer a bunch of sticks tied together by string, make your way down rapids and venture along. It’s kind of like a theme park water ride with monsters trying to kill you the whole way. And should you make it–

Matt: What theme parks do you go to?

Wyatt: It’s fun. It’s fun. It’s fun. Trust me. And if you make it, if you survive to the end of this crazy theme park twisted ride.

Matt: It’s fun if you survive?

Wyatt: You’ll face off against the Fetish Patriarch.

Matt: Notice that there’s three fetishes, not one.

Wyatt: I guess it takes three fetishes to make one Fetish Patriarch.

Matt: That’s your excuse?

Wyatt: Yeah! Okay. Okay, let’s move on. The Forgotten Tower. So we hinted at this yesterday, and yes… we are going back to the Forgotten Tower. The Forgotten Tower is an area that we originally saw in ACT I of Diablo II. It is home to the Countess… or was. In Diablo II, many of you killed the Countess already. Some of you many times.

And here, her cultists, her followers have found a way through a sick twisted blood ritual to actually resurrect the Countess, and bring her back to life. From the Forgotten Tower, the resurrected Countess rules over the Darkwood and the Black Marsh.

Matt: I love this slide.

Wyatt: This is the best. Alright, so that’s a look at some of the Instance Dungeons, some of the gameplay that we’re hoping Diablo Immortal will capture.

NEXT: DIABLO IMMORTAL: CLASSES

DIABLO IMMORTAL WORLD AND Q&A PANEL TRANSCRIPT
1. Story	2. Zones	3. Classes	4. Q&A

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