Avian Gamers Network

As it was in previous games in the series, a big part of Diablo III is amassing piles and piles of loot. Collecting bigger, sturdier suits of armor. Finding an axe that's sharper, more brutal, and more perfectly aligned with your play-style and build than the last one. Sifting through the piles of wands, staves, and runes that explode out of slain creatures.

But there's more to loot than random drops. In Diablo III, we want you to be able to build your arsenal as you progress through the game, turning old, outdated gear into... well, more than just extra money. We want you to be able to make deliberate choices about your equipment alongside the joy of acquiring random items from enemies and treasure chests. To do that without slowing down the game's action, we've implemented a unique crafting system.

The artisans each have their own personalities and motivations for wanting to strike a blow against the Burning Hells, but you'll still need to earn their services before they'll agree to travel with you.

Each artisan also has a particular specialty -- a grouping of items that he or she can create or modify. The blacksmith can craft weapons and armor. He can also add sockets to items (regardless of their quality), allowing those items to be enhanced and tweaked over time. The mystic can manufacture a diverse array of scrolls, potions, runes, and charms, and can also give you the option to break down undesirable runes for a shot at one you want. The jeweler can remove gems from sockets, allowing you to re-use gems over time. The jeweler can also combine lower-quality gems to produce a higher-quality cut.

To provide your artisans with the ingredients necessary to perform their work, you'll salvage items, breaking them down into components. You can salvage the majority of loot you find while exploring. Salvaging is an effective way to manage your inventory so that your bags don't fill up, but it's also a means to recycle items you don't want (as opposed to selling them for gold).

The components you'll get from salvaging items are fairly predictable, but there's a small degree of luck involved with each salvage attempt. In general, higher-quality items will provide you with more valuable and rarer salvage than lower-quality items -- but the rarest materials are always found in treasure chests or beside the corpses of your foes.

With your pack full of salvaged components, you can set your artisans to work crafting for you. These crafted items are utterly unique -- with a few exceptions, they won't drop anywhere else -- and, like many rewards in the Diablo series, there's an element of randomness to them.

For example, let's say you ask the blacksmith to forge Fist Blades of Dexterity for you. The weapon's damage values and dexterity bonus are visible in the crafting menu, but so is a new phrase: “two random properties.” You know you want the weapon, and the attribute bonus supports your play-style -- but what are the properties? That's determined randomly as the item is made, after it's paid for.

The power and diversity of crafted items improves as your artisans do -- and their training is placed directly in your hands. To train an artisan, you allocate gold and materials to their practice, and they expand their shop -- honing their craft, enlarging their facilities, and leaving the mark of industry upon your caravan as they research new items. It's up to you to decide how you want to divide your resources among the artisans who travel with you. You might want to contribute to all of them evenly, or you might want to focus on one individual. Your class and build will undoubtedly affect this decision.

We have many goals for Diablo III's crafting system. We want to provide you with more ways to manipulate your items, and we want to give you a tangible marker of your progress over time -- but we also want to scale your arsenal to the threats you'll be facing. In previous Diablo games, you primarily bought items from town traders. In Diablo III, your personal entourage will help outfit you for battle.

Against the daunting forces of the Burning Hells, you'll need all the help you can get.



FAQ:

What is the caravan?
The caravan is a persistent group that follows the heroes across Sanctuary, providing a centralized hub for players to find quest givers, crafters, and other important NPCs.

Who are the artisans?
In order to access the professions in Diablo III, you'll need to gain the loyalty of various artisans through your travels in Sanctuary. The blacksmith, mystic, and jeweler will each provide unique services over the course of the game.

What do the artisans offer?
Skilling up your artisans will unlock unique recipes, granting your character access to benefits that may not be found anywhere else in the world. The blacksmith crafts weapons and armor, and can add sockets to some items. The mystic creates scrolls, potions, magical weapons, spell runes, and charms, and can also enchant items. The jeweler crafts gems , amulets, and rings. The jeweler can also remove gems from socketed items and can combine gems to improve their quality.

How do I find the artisans?
Finding the artisans will be part of the main quest. Each artisan has been fleshed out to include their own story and quest line.

How do I use the artisans?
You'll collect loot as a reward for slaughtering the forces of the Burning Hells. Unwanted items can be salvaged in your inventory, converting these goods into raw crafting materials -- higher-level items are salvaged into higher-level materials. You'll then take those raw materials and hand them over to the artisans, putting them to work crafting or enchanting for you. Upon returning to the caravan after a lengthy foray, you may also find that the artisans have been hard at work plying their trade for your benefit.

How do I salvage my items?
Players will find an item while progressing through the main quest that will allow them to convert unwanted gear into crafting materials from the inventory. This item will not take up any inventory space. This should be a more satisfying option for offloading unwanted loot than the alternative -- dropping things on the ground or making frequent trips to a vendor.

Why are you including crafting professions in an action game?
Professions add depth to the item collection gameplay that drives the action of Diablo III. We want to provide players with an alternative way to acquire gear, potions, and other randomly found items. We also want to provide additional forms of customization for players -- adding jewels, enchants, or sockets to existing gear allows players to further tailor their characters. Many rare crafting recipes and materials are only found as world drops, enhancing the item acquisition process by increasing the diversity of items dropped by monsters.