Max number of skills

[lichit]

While watching the movies and screens one particulair thing came to my attention. While whirlwind has the 'traditional' 20 skill points you can put in it, most of the other skills only needed 5 or even 1 skill to be 'maxed'!
What does this mean? In my opinion it looks a bit like the wow talent tree, where you also had 1-5 points to put in certain talents.

What consequences does this have? In diablo II you could put 20 skillpoints in each skill, meaning you could only have maxed a certain few skills at lvl 99. If I am right and most diablo III skills will only need 5 points in them, you could for instance max out en entire skill tree or something at lvl 99! Or do you guys think each class will just get so many more skills so that it would be balanced again and hard to pick between each? Cause if it is possible to max out each skill in one tree, it would sort of take away the strategic aspect. And I havent even gotten started on +skillers, will they still be in or function in the same way? In diablo 2 it was possible to have like +20 to skills or smth. That is ok for a skill that is allready at lvl 20, it just keeps on scaling down. But wouldn't it be overpowered to work on a skill that is maxed at level 1? Those skills tend to be quite powerfull at itself, hence the only 1 point you can invest in it. If it would skill to lvl 21 (with 20+skills) it could become way too overpowered!

Another question on the skills, you all saw the damage some skills did, zombie wall for instance has 5 levels in it. The zombies do 15 damage at lvl 4 and 5. That would make this skill utterly useless in anything past act 1 normal. IIRC more skill had such low damage values.

While I'm at it, does anyone know if synergies and MF will still be in? I hope so, I liked both!

Sorry for textwall! I hope I made my point clear and I hope you guys will share your thoughts with me!
P.S. I didn't mean for this post to come over as a whine post, I am really excited at diablo III and will most certainly buy it and play it untill my hands start to cramp

[Sein Schatten]

Noticed that, too.
Maybe the level max is 50? Or all skills get the normal level max of 20?

[Dacar92]

Nothing has been announced regarding synergies, max levels, or any of that stuff. We must be patient and wait.

[mince pies]

Another question on the skills, you all saw the damage some skills did, zombie wall for instance has 5 levels in it. The zombies do 15 damage at lvl 4 and 5. That would make this skill utterly useless in anything past act 1 normal. IIRC more skill had such low damage values.

You don't even know what the amount of life, resistances, damage reduction (if any) will be on the monsters yet, so saying that a skill will be useless after act I normal is a stupid assumption to make

[Ghoulz]

Originally Posted by mince pies

You don't even know what the amount of life, resistances, damage reduction (if any) will be on the monsters yet, so saying that a skill will be useless after act I normal is a stupid assumption to make

I doubt they would make that mistake again.

[pantherus]

Originally Posted by mince pies

You don't even know what the amount of life, resistances, damage reduction (if any) will be on the monsters yet, so saying that a skill will be useless after act I normal is a stupid assumption to make

Even so - only having 15 damage sounds pitiful no matter how you see it. Of course there may be some hidden increase (like hits per second) that we don't see, and the zombies are doing 15 damage per hit, but 100 hits per second or something

Plus consider that any skill descriptions weren't complete or accurate in the video...

[ironrunes]

Originally Posted by lichit

That would make this skill utterly useless in anything past act 1 normal.

It would probably make it useless if that skill was in D2, while it will be in D3, that seems to be somewhat different. Probably different like D1 is different if compared to D2.
We really know too little to say something like that, IMHO.
Maybe skill damage/attack/attack speed go up with the clvl, not just pouring sp in them. Maybe something else. Who knows?

[Aaiieeee]

The thing I'm really worried about is where you have to spend a certain number of skills points (read that as 'waste') to reach the next level of skills. I hated the WoW system because you had to put poitns into useless abilities just to get to the next level of skills. A skill would 'require x number of points spent in that tree' to acess the more powerful skills. In RPG I HATE waste, especially in character development.
I don't mind how they do the skill system so long as its not like the WoW version.

Also the Wow skills(talents) were depressingly weak, like +2% to chritical hit, for a whole skill point! (a max of 10% with 5 points). I just felt it was so wasted when I think of the massive bonuses given in DII!

Again, I so hope DIII does NOT do this!

[Apocalypse]

Originally Posted by Sein Schatten

Noticed that, too.
Maybe the level max is 50? Or all skills get the normal level max of 20?

also it is possible that we no longer get a skill point every level but instead maybe every other now? level cap 100 get a skill point every odd or even level? with a few bonus tossed in from quest?

[konfeta]

They could have went the Titan Quest route. Many skills in that game had underwhelming numbers, but a variety of equipment could skyrocket their damage output into the stratosphere.

For example, the spell Volcanic Orb. About 120 damage at maxed out level seemed underwhelming, especially when you get characters that do DPS in the 5k+ range easily late game. However, the spell was anything but useless because you could rack up +% fire damage gear, +% elemental damage gear, -recharge gear (reduces cooldown of spells), and +casting speed gear%.

And thus, an underwhelming spell becomes a rapid fire grenade launcher of doom.