We got the chance to view the Diablo III demo the day before the start of BlizzCon at a fansite summit held at Blizzard Headquarters. Blizzard's Micah Whipple led us through the demo, which contains gorgeous graphics and some noticeable differences from Diablo II.

Whipple decided to show us the male wizard first as he moved the character through the Sundered Pass. The quest log looks similar to Diablo II, and Whipple noted Blizzard is "trying to keep bits and pieces classically styled." However, the quest log does include a section for side missions, which are randomly generated as you play.

Some health globes quickly dropped as Whipple battled Sand Wasps, and they heal you immediately. There will still be health potions available on a cooldown. On an interesting note, Whipple explained the team has removed mana orbs from the game. Instead, skills like Spirit Vessel will allow you to restore some mana by picking up a health globe.

Whipple continued to fight through large groups of enemies using special blades as a melee-type attack that's still a spell. He had his ice armor buff up as his main defense and used a mirror image spell to draw aggro away from his wizard.

We then got to see the updated inventory screen, which has changed a bit. Items can now be placed "Tetris-style" in one or two slots, which Whipple said allows big art for items and keeps the inventory clean and easy to manage. You can also right click on an unidentified item to identify it, then right click it again to equip it.

We saw that shrines are coming back, and repairing a desecrated shrine will give you a temporary buff, such as gaining more experience from killing monsters. These buffs last one minute, so you're encouraged to use it immediately.

Whipple then switched over to the witch doctor and showed us some major changes to skill trees. They're now laid out side by side and are essentially one big tree since the points extend over all of them. This allows players to mix and match as they see fit, but specialization will require deep spending in a specific tree. There are no longer synergies, but you'll be able to pump points into earlier skills to make them more worthwhile if you wish. Also, you will have the opportunity to respec in the game.

As Whipple ran through the map with his witch doctor, he explained most of the outdoor elements remain static, but there are some randomized sections. For example, the road is always the same, but dungeon entrances and exits will move every time you replay that area.

New witch doctor spells include Fetish Army, which summons an army of level 15 fetishes to fight by your side, and Gargantuan, which summons a large zombie follower to fight for you. It's a DPS-type zombie dog.

For more information on Diablo III, check out this sneak peek Q&A with Game Director Jay Wilson that was published today on the official BlizzCon site. And of course we'll have more information on the game throughout the weekend.

Darryl "Togikagi" Gangloff
News Reporter
ZAM.com