Find Alcarnus - Revision history

Leord at 16:16, 19 April 2010

2010-04-19T16:16:40Z

Leord at 16:06, 19 April 2010

2010-04-19T16:06:32Z

TheWanderer at 01:17, 19 April 2010

2010-04-19T01:17:36Z

Flux at 02:28, 23 January 2010

2010-01-23T02:28:38Z

Flux: /* The City */

2010-01-22T12:53:49Z

‎The City

Flux at 12:47, 22 January 2010

2010-01-22T12:47:48Z

Flux: new quest

2010-01-22T12:45:46Z

new quest

New page

Find Alcarnus was the main quest in the Blizzcon 2009 demo. Arcanus was a small, ruined, overrun city deep in the desert wastes, conveniently located at the end of a long, winding dirt road from the gates of [[Caldeum]]. Its location may be different in the final game.

[[File:Alcarnus-1.jpg|thumb|400px|The bridge leading into the city.]]

==Follow the Path==

The main quest was given by the NPC [[Asheara]], apparently making {{iw|Asheara her return}} from Diablo 2. In a short conversation Asheara, who appears ageless and is still employed as a mercenary captain, told the new player that Alcarus was lost, and unreachable across treacherous desert wastes. Your character was undaunted, and replied confidentially that they would find it nevertheless. Each of the four classes had slightly different dialogue, but they were united in their self confidence and determination to see the mission through.

Asheara's dialogue was not customized to the class she addressed, unlike [[Captain Rumfeld]]'s in Blizzcon 2008. It's not known if Asheara will be like this in the final game, if her dialogues were not finished yet, or if the developers took out her regular dialogues to avoid giving away plot points in the demo build. She didn't even have a special word for the Barbarian, who she would presumably remember after meeting him twenty years earlier, in the city of Kurast. (In Act 3 of Diablo 2.)

After speaking with Asheara, players had no choice but to work their way out of the narrow, winding canyons into an open area; the [[Sundered Pass]]. Through that level, and the levels beyond, a narrow, twisting dirt path led. Following this path would lead characters straight to Alcarus, just as the dirt path led players through all the surface areas of Act One in Diablo 2. It's not known if this path will be there in the final game, or it was just a helpful feature added for the demo.

==The Quest==

Although the mission to reach Alcarnus was the main quest in the 2009 Blizzcon demo, it was one of the least interesting missions available. There was nothing to do but follow the road through the desert. No clues were offered, no special tricks had to be performed. Your character just had to get there. This was easy to achieve, eventually, but took some hurrying to make it in the 20 minutes players had to try out the game on the show floor. Most players did not, since there were so many fascinating diversions and monsters that led one away from the path.

Completing the quest was also an anticlimax, since there was no end. Players simply had to reach Alcarnus to receive credit for the quest, but there was no reward, or even a final boss battle. The message in the quest window was the only thing that changed, and once you reached the town it simply said, "The scene in the city was even worse than you’d feared."

This was due to the demo being a pared down version of the full game, and the real game will have much more to the quest, plus the city will not be a dead end.

==The City==

[[File:Alcarnus-2.jpg|thumb|400px|Gruesome sights in the city.]]
In [[Alcarnus]] your character discovered horror and misery. The Dark Cultists had overrun the city and slain or imprisoned all of the inhabitants. Maimed and gruesome corpses were everywhere, many of them skewered on stakes or stretched out on torture racks. [[Dark Cultists]] abounded, and had to be slaughtered, ideally before they could transform into the much more dangerous [[Animated Vessels]].

The imprisoned citizens could be freed with a click on their cages, but they did nothing more than thank you before running off and vanishing once they crossed the bridge out of town. Freed citizens would occasionally drop an item, but this seemed to be buggy, as seldom as it occurred.

Other than freeing the citizens and killing the Dark Cultists, there was nothing to do in Alcarnus. The map had been changed for the Blizzcon demo, and the city formed a U-shape, with no exit or way to move through it. It was just a dead end with a curve, and after the cool battle against the Skeleton King that provided a nice conclusion to the 2008 Blizzcon demo, the 2009 Blizzcon version of Alcarnus was a disappointment.

[[category:quests]]
[[category:Act II Quests]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:06, 19 April 2010
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	This quest was quite minimal in execution, and seemed like something the developers created just for the Blizzcon demo. This quest and the city of Alcarnus will likely be quite different in the final game.		This quest was quite minimal in execution, and seemed like something the developers created just for the Blizzcon demo. This quest and the city of Alcarnus will likely be quite different in the final game.

		+
		+	__TOC__
	==Follow the Path==		==Follow the Path==

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:17, 19 April 2010
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−	Find Alcarnus was the main quest in the Blizzcon 2009 demo. Arcanus was a small, ruined, overrun city deep in the desert wastes, conveniently located at the end of a long, winding dirt road from the gates of [[Caldeum]].	+	'Find Alcarnus' was the main quest in the Blizzcon 2009 demo. Arcanus was a small, ruined, overrun city deep in the desert wastes, conveniently located at the end of a long, winding dirt road from the gates of [[Caldeum]].

	This quest was quite minimal in execution, and seemed like something the developers created just for the Blizzcon demo. This quest and the city of Alcarnus will likely be quite different in the final game.		This quest was quite minimal in execution, and seemed like something the developers created just for the Blizzcon demo. This quest and the city of Alcarnus will likely be quite different in the final game.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'Find Alcarnus' was the main quest in the Blizzcon 2009 demo. Arcanus was a small, ruined, overrun city deep in the desert wastes, conveniently located at the end of a long, winding dirt road from the gates of [[Caldeum]].
+[[File:BlizzCon_2009_demo_map.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Map of the BlizzCon 2009 demo.]]
-This quest was quite minimal in execution, and seemed like something the developers created just for the Blizzcon demo. This quest and the city of Alcarnus will likely be quite different in the final game.
+This quest was quite minimal in execution, and seemed like something the developers created just for the BlizzCon demo. This quest and the city of Alcarnus will likely be quite different in the final game.
 __TOC__
 ==Follow the Path==
 [[File:Alcarnus-1.jpg|thumb|400px|The bridge leading into the city.]]
 The main quest was given by the NPC [[Asheara]], apparently making {{iw|Asheara her return}} from Diablo 2.  In a short conversation Asheara, who appears ageless and is still employed as a mercenary captain, told the new player that Alcarus was lost, and unreachable across treacherous desert wastes. Your character was undaunted, and replied confidentially that they would find it nevertheless. Each of the four classes had slightly different dialogue, but they were united in their self confidence and determination to see the mission through.
 Asheara's dialogue was not customized to the class she addressed, unlike [[Captain Rumford]]'s in Blizzcon 2008. It's not known if Asheara will be like this in the final game, if her dialogues were not finished yet, or if the developers took out her regular dialogues to avoid giving away plot points in the demo build. She didn't even have a special word for the Barbarian, who she would presumably remember after meeting him twenty years earlier, in the city of Kurast. (In Act 3 of Diablo 2.)
 After speaking with Asheara, players had no choice but to work their way out of the narrow, winding canyons into an open area; the [[Sundered Pass]]. Through that level, and the levels beyond, a narrow, twisting dirt path led. Following this path would lead characters straight to Alcarus, just as the dirt path led players through all the surface areas of Act One in Diablo 2. It's not known if this path will be there in the final game, or it was just a helpful feature added for the demo.
@@ Line 16: / Line 18: @@
 ==The Quest==
 Completing the quest was also an anticlimax, since there was no end. Players simply had to reach Alcarnus to receive credit for the quest, but there was no reward, or even a final boss battle. The message in the quest window was the only thing that changed, and once you reached the town it simply said, "The scene in the city was even worse than you’d feared."
 This was due to the demo being a pared down version of the full game, and the real game will have much more to the quest, plus the city will not be a dead end.
 ==The City==
 [[File:Alcarnus-2.jpg|thumb|400px|Gruesome sights in the city.]]
 In [[Alcarnus]] your character discovered horror and misery. The Dark Cultists had overrun the city and slain or imprisoned all of the inhabitants. Maimed and gruesome corpses were everywhere, many of them skewered on stakes or stretched out on torture racks. [[Dark Cultists]] abounded, and had to be slaughtered, ideally before they could transform into the much more dangerous [[Activated Vessel]]s.
 The imprisoned citizens could be freed with a click on their cages, but they did nothing more than thank you before running off and vanishing once they crossed the bridge out of town. Freed citizens would occasionally drop an item, but this seemed to be buggy, as seldom as it occurred.
 Other than freeing the citizens and killing the Dark Cultists, there was nothing to do in Alcarnus. The map had been changed for the Blizzcon demo, and the city formed a U-shape, with no exit or way to move through it. It was just a dead end with a curve, and after the cool battle against the Skeleton King that provided a nice conclusion to the 2008 Blizzcon demo, the 2009 Blizzcon version of Alcarnus was a disappointment.