Skill question of newbish proportion

Hey guys. So I've been doing all the reading I can about the game, still not sure what to think though. Sounds like it's gonna either be incredible or horrible. All I care about is the skill system though. Here's my big question:


How does skill leveling work? Now, I know you can take "any 8 of 150 skills" into battle, whatever that means... but can you choose to 'build up' certain skills over others? I mean, if you can't, then it sounds like you're going to have some absolutely horrid cookie-cutter issues. If, however, you can stick to those 8 skills and build them to godly levels, then you could get some real uniqueness out of your characters.


So, to paraphrase, could someone clue me in here on skill leveling? I appreciate the help.

I am quite new to the game but I believe the way you build the skills up is through your attributes that correlate to those skills.
If you read the descriptions for the attributes each class has it says something like it increases the duration or minimizes the casting time or cost etc...

Your never going to get a skill or skills ungodly powerful--but you can get to the point that you could consider yourself a "specialist" in that field but possibly vulnerable in other fields.

ok... that might be alright.... still need more info though. I wish the main page had more.... thanks though.

It's a really good system. Trust me there will be literally hundreds of viable builds people will come up with. Strategies will change, and different builds will become more of less effective. The second poster pretty well explained how the skills work, they all coorelate to a particular attribute. You choose which attributes you want to sink points into.

alright, so it sounds like rather than putting 'points' into skills, you put them into attributes, and those attributes help multiple skills. Does that sound right? If so, are those attribute allocations permanent? (sorry about all the questions, I just wanna make sure the system is kosher to me before I waste $50 on it this weekend ).

You got it right. The attribute points can be taken back using "refund" points which you get just by gaining experience. So you can try out different builds as you go. Each class has about 5 attributes (their primary attribute is only available if you pick that class as a primary), and you'll never have enough points to be master of them all. You'll want to pick the few you like and that work with your character build.

"You can be anything you want, just not everything you want"

Each class combination is quite diverse, and there are a lot of strategic possibilities for each. Each skill (usually) is tied to an attribute, which impacts how effective that skill is. Attributes in turn cost "attribute points", of which you get a limited number (200 at level 20). Your distribution of attribute points across your attributes impacts how effective the skills you choose to use are.

For example, if you're a Warrior Monk, you can have a healing spell called Orison of Healing. If you put 0 points in that spell it might heal 10 points. If you put 3 points in it might heal 20 points. But by putting points into your "Healing" attribute, you take point availability away from other attributes (like ones tied to using your sword skills).

Some skills are designated as Elite. You can only have one elite skill in your skill bar at a time.

ah, thank you adam - THAT's what I was looking for

When you are level 20, you will have 200 attribute points like everybody else, what will make your character "unique" compared to others that have the same af the 30 primary/secndary profession combination will be how you allocate the points into your 8-10 attribute lines, and of course which skills you bring, your choice of armor and weapons. Oh, and how you use them

starting to sound better, thanks to you guys. I wonder if today is payday....


EDIT: oh, one other thing. are attributes 'untrainable', or are those points spent permanent?

Your character is very malleable. You get 24 "refund" points. If you lower an attribute by 1, you lose 1 refund point and gain the skill points that attribute point was taking so you can redistribute them. You get more refund points as you gain more experience (even at level 20).

In this way, you buy your character flexability.

I thought the same thing as you.... Not too many builds everyone is going to be the same. But they way the skill work in relation to your attirbutes seems like that wont happen and you can follow your own path.

got it. sounds like tons of build opportunities. Now I can retire my 150+ diablo II characters and move on to bloodier pastures. I'm excited


Hopefully other new players will see this thread and learn from it. You guys are a huge help.