So guys,

Today I'm having what will likely be the absolute last interview with Blizzard for Diablo 3 before the game is released, and if you're keen to have a question answered post-beta dabbling, please drop a line in this thread and I'll do my best to squeeze them in.

As usual, constructive questions are what we're after, and try and throw stuff at us that hasn't been broached before, or has never been fully fleshed out from them in other interviews etc.

Cheers

any throw backs to diablo 1 at all would be awesome

There's said to be about 20 or so quests removed from D1 but Blizzard have only ever confirmed why 1 of them was deleted because it changed the game really. In the game you would of found a Map of Stars which when used gave you a... well, look at a map of stars. You had to beat diablo when all of them aligned or he would of been nearly impossible to kill. That would of been great since he wasn't exactly hard when you get down there anyway.

Also he may not of been on Lv 16 and there may of been many more levels. The priest guy sent you on a long quest to find Shadowfang which then would of lead you into the hellforge to destroy the sword. Also an apparent branching sub-quest which involved killing Izual and taking his sword Azurewrath. However since Izual was in D2 they took that idea and tweaked it a bit.

Will the maps be randomly generated like previous diablo games? The beta showed a set path every single time. (read linear)

The maps in the beta (and full game) are randomised except for some set pieces. Did you not notice that the crypts and cathedral sub-levels were different?

Will the maps be randomly generated like previous diablo games? The beta showed a set path every single time. (read linear)

The beta was still random just not as much as the rest of the game obviously due to them wanting to have a small area and not overwhelm people (this question has been asked and ansered before in other Q&A's)

The beta was still not linear, you just thought so. It may have only seemed linear because the pieces that made up the randomly generated jigzaw puzzle were very big.