We recently offered up Nobbie’s speculative article about D3X2, with his thoughts on the likely setting (Skovos) and 7th class (Druid/Amazon hybrid). Today he’s back with more on that topic, with alternative possibilities for the setting of Act Six and the new class.
First off, he’s got some interesting theories about when the announcement might be made. Many fans have hoped for a D3X2 reveal at Gamescom 2015, after RoS was announced at Gamescom 2013. The odds of that seem less than glowing after Blizzard’s press release about Gamescom 2015 confirmed their biggest Gamescom presence ever, with prominent mention of… every single Blizzard title except for Diablo 3. Might that be a ruse to preserve the surprise? After all, if they listed some Diablo 3 panel, everyone would assume that meant expansion announcement.
D3X2 @ Gamescom 2015:
The absence of Diablo 3 in the list of hands-on demoed games led to wild speculations that there may be no Diablo news at all, but I’ve found solid hints last week, which should disprove this theory now.
The current gamescom exhibitor info for Blizzard Entertainment SAS clearly states that Blizzard not only demoes a selection of their latest titles but also has a “Development/Developer in general” spot booked, which points to a press conference with relevant announcements. What gives me that idea? Now, if you look up the same info for Sony Entertainment on that site, you’ll notice that they don’t have such a spot booked, and in fact, Sony announced last week that they won’t be holding a press conference at gamescom 2015. Instead, there will be an “international media briefing” at Paris Games Week in October.
This is great news for us Diablo fans because:
Hearthstone just recently got its latest adventure Blackrock Mountain Heroes of the Storm launches June 2, 2015 The StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void beta is currently running The Overwatch beta begins this fall The World of WarCraft content patch 6.2 beta is currently running So, all listed franchises either just had their release, will be released shortly, are already in beta or will be in beta very soon. This leaves only Diablo in the “development” category, whose last big announcement dates back to August 21, 2013, when the first expansion Reaper of Souls (RoS) was revealed during a press conference at gamescom. Considering the fact that the demand for news about future, expansion-size Diablo content is imminent and that Blizzard booked the aforementioned “development” spot, I think it’s now pretty safe to say that the second expansion will indeed celebrate its premiere in three months.
That’s just an excerpt from the piece. Click through for the full article, including Nobbie’s theories about hybrid necromancer-mages in the Wizards’ homeland.
Diablo 3 Expansion 2: Xiansai and a new Wizard-based Hybrid Class?
Greetings, dear readers! This is my third speculation article about potential Diablo 3 Expansion 2 content. In my March blog I’ve made first educated guesses, mixed with some personal wishes, what the next expansion might have in store for us Diablo fans, and the follow-up April blog covered a striking bit of information that’s been on the Internet for a couple of years now. Today I’m going to talk about Xiansai, the home of unmatched artisans and artists, as well as enigmatic sorcerers, scholars and philosophers, which in my book is definitely another prime candidate for an expansion.
Before I begin, however, I want to share some info that you are certainly interested in. Last month Blizzard announced that they will be returning for gamescom 2015 from August 5-9, where we’ll be able to playtest their latest titles, including Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft. The absence of Diablo 3 in the list of hands-on demoed games led to wild speculations that there may be no Diablo news at all, but I’ve found solid hints last week, which should disprove this theory now.
The current gamescom exhibitor info for Blizzard Entertainment SAS (see/klick the above picture) clearly states that Blizzard not only demoes a selection of their latest titles but also has a “Development/Developer in general” spot booked, which points to a press conference with relevant announcements. What gives me that idea? Now, if you look up the same info for Sony Entertainment on that site, you’ll notice that they don’t have such a spot booked, and in fact, Sony announced last week that they won’t be holding a press conference at gamescom 2015. Instead, there will be an “international media briefing” at Paris Games Week in October.
This is great news for us Diablo fans because:
- Hearthstone just recently got its latest adventure Blackrock Mountain
- Heroes of the Storm launches June 2, 2015
- The StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void beta is currently running
- The Overwatch beta begins this fall
- The World of WarCraft content patch 6.2 beta is currently running
So, all listed franchises either just had their release, will be released shortly, are already in beta or will be in beta very soon. This leaves only Diablo in the “development” category, whose last big announcement dates back to August 21, 2013, when the first expansion Reaper of Souls (RoS) was revealed during a press conference at gamescom. Considering the fact that the demand for news about future, expansion-size Diablo content is imminent and that Blizzard booked the aforementioned “development” spot, I think it’s now pretty safe to say that the second expansion will indeed celebrate its premiere in three months.
Story & Features of the Diablo 3 Expansion 2
Xiansai
In my first blog I’ve speculated about Scosglen, home of the original “barbaric” Druids, being a potential location for the second Diablo 3 expansion (D3X2 for short), and in my second blog I covered the Skovos Isles, home of the Askari matriarchal society and its Amazons. So, what makes Xiansai, where many Wizards originate from, interesting?
To answer that question we have to look (literally) at the whole “picture”. My expansion speculations are mostly based on which concept arts have been posted on the Internet by the various Diablo 3 artists. There are lots from the original game (obviously) and the printed lore books, a bunch from Westmarch (Reaper of Souls), and environment/atmosphere studies like Skovos, Kurast, or Xiansai. All artworks, which have been published in the artist portfolios, require the permission of Blizzard before release. It is interesting to note that there are quite a few from Skovos Isles, even including detailed artist notes, which reveal that Skovos is a sinking city. However, knowing Blizzard’s “top secret” development policy, this is rather unusual, and it begs the question if the devs were “done” with Skovos as future Diablo 3 expansion content, especially after the hefty art style controversy.
The “leaked” Blizzard product slate from 2010.
Let’s furthermore assume that Blizzard had planned just two expansions for Diablo 3, as the above “leaked” (and authentic!) product slate from 2010 might suggest. Granted, the slate is just a 5-year plan which may change at any time (see “Titan” on the list), but if this is in fact true, the devs have obviously concepted various (expansion) locations in advance from which they’ll pick two for the main locations in the expansions.
Of special interest in this regard are the concept arts of Blizzard artist Christian Lorenz Scheurer, which include Caldeum, the High Heavens, Skovos, Westmarch, and Xiansai. The art of Christian apparently had a big impact on the final look of the game locations; particularly the mood of Westmarch and RoS (see the right image above) is reflected perfectly in the artwork. The other striking image with a not-yet-released location in his portfolio shows the Asian looking capital city of Xiansai, which nestles up to the snowy mountains in Sanctuary’s icy north. The not-too-bright, mysterious atmosphere that surrounds the island would be a welcome visual counterpoint to the dark, gothic Westmarch in RoS. Also, Xiansai is located right next to the Druid homeland Scosglen – more about that in a moment. Now, you may think that these two complementary location concepts are a bit thin to speculate upon, but there’s more!
Covetous Shen & Zei
The people of Xiansai worship fifty-nine gods, but they only love one: Zei, the grinning trickster who fooled emperors, seduced river goddesses, and traveled the world disguised as a humble jeweler. That’s hardly surprising because – besides their beliefs and culture – the Xian society resembles that of the medieval Florence during the times of the Medici: Great Families are warring in the streets, and political intrigue and bottomless wells of treachery can be found around every corner.
It is implied throughout the Reaper of Souls storyline (mostly by Shen himself) that the jeweler (Covetous) Shen is in fact Zei, or at least is somewhat related to him. It is not fully revealed, however, even though Liria, one of the gods of Xiansai and his lover, herself nearly recognized Shen as Zei in a game quest, and Shen remembered her face. The following video tells the story of Liria, her lover Zei, and her husband Dirgest, who was once worshipped by the Xiansai people as a god of desire and who became a demon later. It is available as ingame dialogues with Shen and a follow-up quest in the Unearthed Ruins in Act 5. If you don’t usually follow the game lore, this is a summary you definitely don’t want to miss.
Shen is much, much more than a simple jeweler
Following is a quick bullet point summary of the lore (source):
- Liria was a moon goddess of incomparable beauty, which occasionally has caught the eye of Dirgest, a demon, once worshipped by the Xian as a god of desire.
- Dirgest won the heart of Liria with his riches and persistence, making her his wife. Jealous, he tried to keep her off the world, but every night she had to travel the sky, where he could not follow.
- Zei, the
legendary thief, decided to steal her from Dirgest, and eventually did
so, sneaking into her palace and spending the night with Liria.- Dirgest did not kill Zei in return, but slaughtered everyone Zei held dear, including Liria, taking her soul for himself.
- Zei eventually defeated the demon god and imprisoned him within a ruby. Wearing it on his neck, Zei became a new god of the Xiansai
pantheon.- However, the ruby had a crack in it, through which Dirgest could drain the life out of whoever touched the cursed jewel. After a while, Zei could not bear this burden, and cast off his divinity, becoming mortal again – presumably as the jeweler Covetous Shen. The jewel was hidden in an ancient labyrinth (the Unearthed Ruins in Act 5).
- When ages later Shen and the Nephalem (the player) came for the jewel with the intention to seal Dirgest’s prison permanently (see the video above), they found the ruby shattered as Dirgest has escaped, leaving his minion Vekriss behind to guard Liria’s spirit. After defeating Vekriss and freeing Liria’s spirit, Shen decided to pursue the demon, with the goal of imprisoning him again.
As you can see, we have a fully fleshed out storyline here, a solid “cliffhanger” ending, and a mysterious jeweler, who is very likely nothing less than a (former) god of the Xiansai
pantheon. If the devs wanted to go to Xiansai in the next expansion, they would have a good reason or even a starting point here, no matter what else awaits us on the island west of the Frozen Sea and north-west of Scosglen.Shen-anigans, or clear hints?
The following two topics are more of a long shot, but I think they deserve a special mention here.
The first one is an ingame conversation with Shen, which reveals that he has traveled Scosglen in the past and had contact with the Druids there. This might just be a personal anecdote, or it is a clever teaser for an upcoming expansion class. Click on the following image to read the story.
“Close Encounters of the Druidic Kind”, presented by Covetous Shen.
The second one is an item which allegedly dropped on the Asian live realms a week ago, due to a bug:
Death Prophet’s Gift: Use this item and select an unsocketed jewelry to add a socket.
If this is legit, it might be an expansion feature because of the magnitude of
power it would add to the current itemization. It would also fit the Xiansai theme well and of course our artisan Covetous Shen, the jeweler.The Next Class: A Wizard-based Shapeshifter?
If we get a hybrid class in the second expansion, you can be sure that the devs won’t just copy previous heroes unaltered, like the Druid from Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction (LoD); instead, it will be a special “twist” on existing classes in order to provide a new, unique experience and fresh gameplay. Now, what could the Wizards (of Xiansai) and the Druids (of the nearby Scosglen) possibly share that results in a cool, Wizard-based hybrid? Does such a class perhaps exist already in the gaming world? Yes, it does, and it is the Shapeshifter in Dragon Age, a very popular fantasy role-playing franchise developed by BioWare.
Slaying your foes as a weaving Spider or missile-immune Insect Swarm?
Yes, please take my money!
A brief comment on the RoS trademark: That one “leaked” exactly one week before the reveal at gamescom 2013 because Blizzard has been very careful since the “Mists of Pandaria” TM slip way before its announcement.
That there was more expansion “noise” before gamescom 2013 is simply due to the fact that Diablo 3 was doing really bad at that time with the AH & itemization fiasco, so they teased a lot what the future holds. Now that RoS is doing so well, there’s no reason to tease but stick with the usual policy.
Since I’ve heard of that new PC Gaming Show at E3 feat. “new game reveals, updates on beloved series, and perspectives from key PC developers”, I’m inclined to believe that we might get the expansion 2 news before gamescom 2015. ^^
So ‘what’ exactly are all those characters in Shen’s story?
Dirgest is a demon, we get that. But everyone else? Are the Nephalem? Angels? What is the concept of “god”, since we haven’t seen any gods in Heaven / Act 4, just the various angels of the high council.
Until now we were just dealing with the Sanctuary “pantheon”. You can find a quick TLDR summary in my first D3X2 speculation blog under the “The Dragon Reborn” chapter:
http://itsnobbie.blogspot.de/2015/03/diablo-3-expansion-2-feat-baal-mephisto.html
If you’ve playing the complete Diablo series, you have certainly noticed that the devs/writers are running out of (big) villains soon, so I think what they are now doing with e.g. the Shen story is the introduction of other pantheons (like that from Xiansai or Skovos) as base for side or even main stories for further installments of the series.
Agree on the lack of big villains thing. From RoS, I thought the only route forward was fighting ourselves, since now the Nephalem are clearly stronger than any of the demons or angels.
And there are plenty of hints about that, such as in Tyrael’s game ending cinematic, where he talks about nephalem having to resist temptation and turning evil with almost unlimited power.
Yup, I expect that we switch roles again in D3X2, just like we did from D1 to D2 (the D1 hero becomes the Dark Wanderer in D2).
bring back AH already and keep loot 2.0
AH was the best feat of D3 but you kiddies ruined it !!!!!!!!!!!
They could bring the AH back as e.g. ruins in the Blood Marsh, as warning that you should never build a game around an AH. 😉
Xiansai and Westmarch pictures are switched (middle of the article) which can be confusing.
Is the site messed up in Firefox for anyone else?
Everything looks normal/works fine in Chrome, but in Firefox it’s like the entire thing is shifted one ‘page’ to the right.
Super annoying, and it’s been like this for a few days now. 🙁
Disable Adblock Plus for this site. 😉
Well damn, that actually worked lol
Although it’s weird that it works perfectly fine on Chrome, even though i have Adblock Plus on there as well… 😛
Jup, the Incgamers staff might want to fix this for those who use Adblock Plus all the time. ^^
Not fixing anything for Adblock users. Block the way we can provide free content then that’s tough luck if things don’t display right. Become a PAL if people don’t want ads, that’s why we have that option so there is zero excuse to not chip in like users who don#t use adblock. Use Adblock = kill the site. Simple as that.
I am still waiting for socket able items in chest armor besides the same gems we have been using since vanilla d3.
And here we are going on expansion two………
Death Prophet’s Gift is totally a joke not an “Evidence” ,don’t ask ?i just know ?? and i agree with Flux that if BIG something comes to Gamescom 2015 we will see more hints in July like we all know there wiill be a big update for HS in Cologne
The trademark for RoS “leaked” one week prior to gamescom 2013, and given how well RiS is doing atm, I wouldn’t expect too much buzz/hype on Blizzard’s part beforehand. 😉
That Death Prophet’s gift is a troll. Just a Ramaladni’s gift with hue/saturation, nothing else.