Just a friendly reminder...

[Friends Call Me Butch]

Not a single one of the original Blizzard North guys from the original Diablo:

max schaefer
eric sexton
kenneth williams
david brevik
erich schaefer
peter brevik
doron gartner
jon morin
robin van der wel
richard seis
ben haas
kelly johnson
matt uelmen
michio okamura
hugh tom byrne
patrick tougas
christopher root
mark sutherland
karin colenzo

...currently work in Irvine. Nor do any of the Blizzard North guys mentioned here except 2 or 3 currently work in Irvine:

http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/diablo-ii/credits

Of course, if this game exists, it may still be great, and will certainly be well-polished with all of the AAA marketing money can buy. It will just have absolutely nothing to do with a single person from the main team that made the first one.

Carry on!

Butch

[SmittySixTen]

Hence all the "Top Secret" jobs available.

[Sakura]

Diablo won't be resurrected in DIII since Bill Roper isn't around to do the voice anymore

[lackdanan]

I dont want to act like a blizzard's fanboy (well, I'M a blizzard fanboy mmm... ), but when i see what some ex. blizzard north employees have done recently (let's say...Hellgate london ?), this argument proves nothing.

Yeah, remember? The former Blizzard north employee, mainly lead by Bill Ropper, are proud to release Hellgate-London, the new and best hack&slash in the universe blablabla... Guess what ? I was decieved. A LOT. Bad balance, buggy, and having to pay a monthly fee to profit the full game? And this was the baby of the "so all mighty" Blizzard notrh employee?

No, people move, want to try new thing. Some have success, others fail (Hellgate london, back again).
Another exemple? Castaway Entertainment, founded by some ex former Blizzard north devs, just suspend their operations. They were working on a diablo-like project (Djinn). ()

There is no secret in making a good game : good ideas, hard work, more hard work, no time limit/deadline forced by some ****ing publishers and A LOT (should i repeat ? A LOT !) of polishing. Regarding the ideas, you need some creative artists, that's not something reseved to the personn you have mentionned above. I would even say that with fresh blood, comes new/unexpected ideas and innovations. Hard work and polishing ? well, just look others Blizzard's games (Starcraft, Warcraft, WoW). Dead line ? Blizzard is probably one of the few studios not being worried by its editor (Vivendi) for an now-and-immediate release...

They get all the ingredients for making Diablo 3 a HUGE game. Let's trust them as we have trust them for Warcraft 3 ,WoW or Starcraft 2. By the way, Metzen is still there, so i m not really worried about bad lore/scenario/story.

And the day of Diablo 3 release (because i'm sure, 29 june will be THE day of the announcement of Diablo 3 ), we will all be crying and yelling about how godly the game is. (And for myself, i will laugh so hard about Hellgate and his greedy-****ty paiment system... )

Hope to see some of you at he WWI

Regards from France.
Mick.

[Friends Call Me Butch]

Originally Posted by lackdanan

The former Blizzard north employee, mainly lead by Bill Ropper, are proud to release Hellgate-London, the new and best hack&slash in the universe blablabla...
Mick.

1 - Roper wasn't at Blizzard North during the making of either Diablo or Diablo II

2 - less than 1/3 of the original "Diablo" Blizzard North crew and less than 1/4 of the "Diablo II" Blizzard North people ended up at Flagship

Blizzard definitely has the resources and talent to make a great game based on almost any IP. But, in terms of non-LOD Diablo II (and excluding the cinematics), the guys who did 100% of the programming, 100% of the player character art, 100% of the music, 100% of the background art, 100% of the game and level design and 100% of the non-concept story aren't there now. Obviously, for the Flagship guys, Blizzard's Quality Control and ability to take as much time as needed wasn't there either!

Originally Posted by Friends Call Me Butch

100% of the programming

actually, my source now tells me that one of those fifteen guys is still there - so, 93.3333333333333333% of the programming :wink3:

[prion]

thats why it's been taking so long he's writing D3 all by himself

[LouisLeGros]

He needs to work faster!
He should be working double shifts! If he already is he should be doing triple shifts!

[MonsterOfTheLake]

Originally Posted by prion

thats why it's been taking so long he's writing D3 all by himself

;D

Poor guy

[BoxCarWillie]

well after long years of programming; thins of the money he will be makign of it;

[Putz]

lol all these 'secret' job listings are console mmo driven positions...