In Diablo III, players will be accompanied by a group of artisans. In addition to buying and selling items, these NPC's will allow the player to access the game's crafting system.

According to the new video released by Blizzard, the player will acquire new artisans over the course of the campaign. You'll earn their trust by completing quests. To further round out these characters, Blizzard will allow you to chat them up in camp.

One example of an artisan provided in the video is a blacksmith. He specializes in the trade of weapons and some types of armor. He, like other artisans, posseses unique abilities. He can repair items and also add sockets to them. As was the case in Diablo II, putting gems into these sockets gives them bonuses.

To craft items, you give ingredients and gold to the artisans. They will level up as they gain practice in crafting. Their stores will become more visually impressive as they level and they'll learn new recipes as well. You'll also find recipes during your adventures.

One big thrill of playing Diablo games is the randomness of the loot system, of stumbling upon the perfect item in a dungeon crawl. The crafting system won't completely destroy that. Craftable items have both set and random properties so they will still be unique on some level.

Crafting is probably one of the least sexy aspects of Diablo III but watching the video still made me want to play the game. It's a shame it won't be out until 2011 at the earliest.