View Full Version : the Companion Orb
In the gameplay and trailer, you see this Orb thing sit on the Wizard's shoulder, hover just next to her head, or floating in the Wizard's hand. What is it? What game mechanic does it provide? Will it be some sort of summon or is it just a design feature? Or am I seeing things?
Diablo 2 had Sorc specific items called "orbs."
Apply deduction. Or is it induction? (not flaming, they never said what it was)
Certainly; however, the Orb-on-a-stick doesn't match too well with the hovering stick-less-orb, unless it's just a graphics issue. Power wise, it'd be better if the orb wasn't simply an item, but a Wisp.:scratchchin:
Well, to be honest, it looked like an item you equip. Diablo 2's orb always struck me as weird, because they weren't actual ORBS. They were ORBS ON A STICK, which is distinctly more like a SCEPTER or a MACE or a STICK than an ORB.
KappaGiBi
14-10-2008, 10:29
ahah, companion cu...orb, that's priceless :D
There's no skill in the wizard skill tree that resembles something like this, so I'd say this is an item. Something like a wizard's orb you know (or perhaps it has 1337 fortune telling skills).
Looks like a orb/focus item to me.
Maybe it just illuminates the area? :D (or maybe it has fortune cookies)
melianor
16-10-2008, 10:21
Wizard orb, finally. Not orb on a stick like in D2 :) I'd say its a wizard specific item. Very cool looking indeed.
it's an item, I believe. She's got one equipped in a few of the new screenshots. It could be a wand type thing, with a glowing orb on the tip, though in the cinematic it looks like a glowing circle/orb, without any handle. Examples:
http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1999&size=big&cat=546
http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1997&size=big&cat=546
http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1987&size=big&cat=546
melianor
16-10-2008, 13:41
it's an item, I believe. She's got one equipped in a few of the new screenshots. It could be a wand type thing, with a glowing orb on the tip, though in the cinematic it looks like a glowing circle/orb, without any handle. Examples:
http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1999&size=big&cat=546
http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1997&size=big&cat=546
http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1987&size=big&cat=546
I also see no stick there. She is holding it in her palm and its floating but form her palm. You also see it in the Wizard Trailer, much more close up though. Orb without a stick. Beautiful.
Cool, i first thought it was just a mana shrine and didnt think anymore of it. This is way better.
You wouldn't be going too far out on a limb to assume that it's a Wizard-specific item indeed. I think the graphic rocks, she's got this floating orb in one hand and desimating evil with the other. I couldn't zoom in but what happens when she uses both hands to do that star wars light beam thing? Where dose the orb go?
melianor
16-10-2008, 17:34
She puts the orb between both hands and focuses the power through the shining orb like a prism, just the other way round :D
I wonder if Wizards will be allowed to dual wield their beautiful Orbs. :wink:
I think I heard talk about it in one of the interviews from Blizzcon, from what I remember it's an offhand item, probably wizard only. You might be able to have something in the other hand if the orb is indeed offhand only.
A non-shield item for spellcasters in Diablo. Finally.
Hope orbs come in many colors lol.
melianor
17-10-2008, 08:00
Off-hand item sounds like a good explanation too. I like the idea of it beiing a shield replacement. Would also fit, since like WoW borrowed from D2, D3 borrows from WoW gameplay mechanics and features and also items, since there is no attribute allocation anymore.
dont know.. didnt she cast though it?
melianor
17-10-2008, 12:21
dont know.. didnt she cast though it?
Casting animation is a different thing than the purpose of an item. In one of the gameplay videos you see the wizard raising a stick when casting. Same can go for off-hand items. I think this is more about animation and does not say anything about the item actually beiing used for cast or just beiing passive with its attributes in the off-hand.
It would appear to be a scry, used as a weapon, given the context of "time." But I'm just guessing..
its one of those Kmart kickballs
melianor
18-10-2008, 17:19
its one of those Kmart kickballs
Since when can you channel magic with those? :p
Since when can you channel magic with those? :p
Who knows where actual wizards get their magical artifacts... I personally don't know any Wizards in my neighborhood. Though, K*Mart is a bit far-fetched, I think it's probably one of those electric orb things from spencers... You know, the ones which have that purple lightning that is attracted to your fingertips.
The only thing it looked like it was doing was lighting the hallways and rooms up.
a spell like that doesn't seem to far fetched.
Mizantrop
19-10-2008, 14:26
I found an orb while playing with the WD in blizzcon. That particular one was an off-hand item which gave spellcasters +damage to spells.
Great, orbs are Orbs again and not balls-on-a-stick! That said, I do hope we get some of those spirits like HoW or Oak Sage into play, except as spell casting minions.
melianor
20-10-2008, 08:23
Great, orbs are Orbs again and not balls-on-a-stick! That said, I do hope we get some of those spirits like HoW or Oak Sage into play, except as spell casting minions.
Spell caster minions? Non-sense. Spell caster already has minions in form of Hydra and as from the lore i guess that will be all it.
I would not really be a fan of making a summoner out of a spellcasting mage class. :scratchchin:
Spell caster minions? Non-sense. Spell caster already has minions in form of Hydra and as from the lore i guess that will be all it.
I would not really be a fan of making a summoner out of a spellcasting mage class. :scratchchin:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but did the Mirror Images the Wizard summoned not use Spectral Blades? I suppose that's not exactly what Lyrs had in mind, but it's in the same ballpark. At least those summons were casting spells. Sort of like the Shadow and Shadow Master from the d2 Assassin. I assume they have health, since the other conjuring skills claim to boost their health, but I wonder if they actually do damage or merely serve as diversions.
melianor
20-10-2008, 08:56
Well yes, i guess we are getting into each personal interpretation of summons now. To me mirror image is not the typical summoning of like skeletions or the like, looking at necromancer in D2 for example. Mirror Image behaves more like the Valkyrie skill or the Shadow and Shadow Master skill, like you said NKlint.
Conjuring and Summoning are different definitions to me. Conjuring is more like invoking something from the spirit world, while summoning involves use of actual matter.
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