Diablo III inventory/equipment changes

[VeazeyJ]

The first Diablo had a mere 7 equipment slots:

Chest, head, weapon, shield, ring, ring, amulet

Diablo II had 10 equipment slots (12 if you count the weapon switch tab):

Chest, head, hands, feet, belt, weapon, shield, ring, ring, amulet

The gameplay video shows that Diablo III has expanded the equipment system with an additional two slots for PAULDRONS and LEGGINGS.

This brings our total to:

Chest, head, hands, feet, pauldrons, leggings, belt, weapon, shield, ring, ring, amulet

Keep mind, however, gloves, boots, and pauldrons are still magically tethered together. You can't find, much less equip, only one pauldron/boot/glove, a la Morrowind (a game which also let your character wear clothing under armor and a robe over).

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The inventory system seems to have changed considerably. The video shows the barbarian with a total of 12 inventory slots. The first slot is a stack of ID scrolls. The second slot is a stack of TP scrolls. The third, fourth, and fifth slots are weapons (axe, axe, and warhammer respectively).

NOTE: I hope this doesn't mean that a character could max out his inventory with 12 rings, or 12 swords, or 12 platemail, as everything appears to take up the same amount of space...

There are FOUR unused bag icons in the lower right portion of the inventory window, hinting at the possibility of substantially more space.

The weapon stats pop-up window shows two new stats: DAMAGE PER SECOND and ATTACKS PER SECOND. Durability is not shown (has it been done away with?).

Highlighting an item in your inventory also shows you the pop-up for the item currently equipped in that slot (ease of comparison).

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Questions/comments? More gameplay video observations? Post away!

[sicilian]

I like the idea of overhauling the inventory system, though I'm not thrilled about each item taking up one slot (unless a weight system is used, but then that favors melee characters with high strength.)

One thing I would like to see is, instead of having each item require a certain amount of strength to wear, have a weight value set to the armor. Then, add the TOTAL weight of all your worn armor together. If you don't have enough strength, you can't wear another piece of armor until you get stronger or take something else off.

[konfeta]

NOTE: I hope this doesn't mean that a character could max out his inventory with 12 rings, or 12 swords, or 12 platemail, as everything appears to take up the same amount of space...

There are FOUR unused bag icons in the lower right portion of the inventory window, hinting at the possibility of substantially more space.

Hinting? All but confirmed. The video had a drop called "Small Bag". Consider WoW inventory system. Logic does the rest.

Other equipment observations:

Gems are back: Chipped Star Topaz was in the video.
Elixirs are back: Elixir of Vitality 1 and Elixir of Willpower 1 were in the video.
Runes are back: Minor Power Rune and Minor Lethality Rune were in the video
White Jewelry: An Ancient Medallion was there. Unless it's a quest item, it seems we have non-magical jewelry.

[Jaago]

Minor energy rune, too. And there was two ancient medallions.

I think we saw a unique (gold) armor dropping from the Thousand Pounder and a rare (yellow) amulet from the Siege Breaker. In addition, both monsters dropped a purple item, which hints at a new item rank. (Could be sets, though.)

Inferior items are making a return, too.

And there were pants as a "new" armor type.

Short bow confirms some archery options. (Not much of a surprise.)

We also saw a minor health potion.

That's all additions I came up with.

[konfeta]

Scroll of identify. Staffs as a weapon class are still in as well.

[capnlarge]

I'm pretty sure the "purple" items were magic items.

[NotAgain]

The axes in the gameplay demo don't have any durability. Hope that will be fixed in the final version of the game.

[konfeta]

"Fixed"?

Hopefully it will stay!

[etslayer]

"Fixed"?

Hopefully it will stay!

Durability is important as it adds another dimension to the quality of an item. Without durability there can be no ethereals for example. And no "repairs 1 durability/min" stat which further deepens the quality of ethereals.

[konfeta]

Durability always annoyed me. But probably because gold had no value and it was an inconvenience rather than a serious limitation.

If they make gold matter, than sure, keep durability in. It's an excellent gold sink, and adds a slew of possibilities to new item properties and mechanics.