I would like to see it on consoles if it played somewhat like God of War, but this way it's better on the PC.

It's so beautiful!
*sob*

Based of the precedent of Diablo 2, this game should be released circa 2011...

I played a lot of Diablo. I played a lot of Diablo 2. Before them, I played plenty of dungeon crawls, from Nethack to many DikuMUDs. After Diablo, I played a ton of Neverwinter Nights and Infinity Engine games.

Playing alone, these slowly became experiences on the level of "I'm bored, I'll kill some things."

Playing with friends, it becomes "Lets kill things together.", and so much more compelling. I won't bring up the cheating issue, since the only solution to it was being picky about who you played with (which I was).

I like multiplayer crawls and RPGs, despite the fact I despise MMOs (the only way to exclude the people you don't want to play with is to find another MMO).

The biggest question is whether or not Blizzard will let me play with others without a monthly fee. What motivation do they have, when it can only compete with their very own market leader, WOW? If there is no fee, will they inject inappropriate advertising, bundling, or branding (equip this sword by emailing your cable company to get G4 on the basic digital package)?

If they do, great; my friends and I will have a blast with it. If fees or other annoyances enter the equation for multiplayer, it sounds like this will be a readily disposable single player experience.

Also, if Blizzard is more or less the richest studio in PC gaming, I bet they could afford to let me download their trailers directly, without the bittorrent.

EDIT: If Warden is required by this, the discs won't get within a mile of my box.

Indigo_Dingo:

Just make it clear that the Keyboard and Mouse need to be used to play (like to the level of Guitar Hero peripherals) and there shouldn't really be any problem.

We have about...four to five system updates till the game comes out.They'll run out of features and implement Mouse & Keyboard eventually.

Now Diablo fans aren't as crazy as people anticipating DNF - because now Diablo 3 actually exists. Judging from screenshots on Shacknews, it looks like it's a lot closer to being done too.

SonofSeth:
I would like to see it on consoles if it played somewhat like God of War, but this way it's better on the PC.

Hack n' Slash (the "combo" kind) RPG? Hmm, never thought of that, that would be cool.

Oh god I can't wait! Really I already posted here but damn, the anticipation is too much and the Escapist is my only outlet! Diablo 3!! Life has new meaning other than booze!

the screenshots just made me really, really, really happy :)

and the good old memories of diablo 2... aaaaaach...

EDIT: now i've watched the trailers :D i think i'm in love x))

i cant wait for more class revelations.

Ultrajoe:
i cant wait for more class revelations.

Same here. The With Doctor seems awesome, though he's not my favorite kind of character... But I'll give him a try of course ;D

I was just feeling like another dungeon crawler so I'm happy this was announced. I've had some good times with the diablo series - and the fact they're increasing the amount of customisation of characters is good for me. Making neat character builds was always a good part of the fun of diablo 2.

If i may so...

anyone wan to start an Escapist guild/clan/party?

i had thoughts about this until i quit WoW for a guild but the idea of getting almost instant access to friends to party with (pun intended) who i know aren't dicks is appealing to me i the umpteenth degree.

I've been waiting for this game since i got fed up with Diablo 2. Which was the game i played most i think (in total hours), even more then World of Warcraft. Gameplay movie looks very promising, the Witchdoctor class however does not. Seems too much like a necromancer to me.

Anywho, looking forward to more classes being unveiled, especially the Druid.

I can't waitttttttttttttttttttttttttttt *hops up in down* I still play d2 fairly often in truth, I could never let all of my characters just die..or all my stuff go. *clings to stash box* Though I must say that because of the major gap between d2 and d3 I'm gonna tend to look at d3 more of a whole new game than a continuation of d2. I don't think it would really be fair to compare the two now. The possibilities of d3 can be almost endless as where d2 never had that chance, it was one of the stating points for games of it's kind. Let's just hope they make d3 so it's a new standard for all the new games to come.

^_^

..my d2 runs on vista....

Arbre:

Skrapt:
I think any Blizzard game is worth keeping an eye on due to pretty much all of their games setting a very high standard of quality.

And alarmingly addictive repetition of empty actions. Hack Hack Heal Hack Hack Heal. 10 hours later. Hack Hack Heal Hack Hack Heal. Next morning. Hack Hack Heal Hack Hack Heal. OK *yawn* get a life people.

I assume you missed the memo about pretty much all of their rts games.

Anyway, I hereby challenge you to find another game who can release Hack Hack Heal Hack Hack Heal games with more polish and finesse then blizzard. Winner receives an internet, loser stfu's.

Steven Rokiski:

The biggest question is whether or not Blizzard will let me play with others without a monthly fee. What motivation do they have, when it can only compete with their very own market leader, WOW? If there is no fee, will they inject inappropriate advertising, bundling, or branding (equip this sword by emailing your cable company to get G4 on the basic digital package)?

If they do, great; my friends and I will have a blast with it. If fees or other annoyances enter the equation for multiplayer, it sounds like this will be a readily disposable single player experience.

Also, if Blizzard is more or less the richest studio in PC gaming, I bet they could afford to let me download their trailers directly, without the bittorrent.

EDIT: If Warden is required by this, the discs won't get within a mile of my box.

Considering the first and second Diablo, Warcraft II and III, and StarCraft all provide free multiplayer via Battle.net, I wouldn't count on them charging this time.

Asehujiko:
I assume you missed the memo about pretty much all of their rts games.

Anyway, I hereby challenge you to find another game who can release Hack Hack Heal Hack Hack Heal games with more polish and finesse then blizzard. Winner receives an internet, loser stfu's.

I'm not interested in Hack Hack Heal Hack Hack Heal games, no matter the polish.
Hell, even WCIII became Diablo with more units and some buildings. I looked away for someting more interesting than loot and mindless power leveling.

Wait, they already made Diablo 3, it was called World of Warcraft. Or not. Wonder if they're going to make you pay for this one.

Hawaiigm:
Wait, they already made Diablo 3, it was called World of Warcraft. Or not. Wonder if they're going to make you pay for this one.

You would have gotten away with it if you said "it was called Hellgate: London" - but nope, you said "it was called world of warcraft" - so I hope you have flood insurance, because you are about to get flooded with "you ignorant fanboy shithead!" comments and things like that.

SonofSeth:
I would like to see it on consoles if it played somewhat like God of War, but this way it's better on the PC.

I wanna see it on consoles more than anyone but i dont want it to be any different to the pc version (other than the controls obviously). I esecially dont want it anything like God of war! They are NOTHING alike!

It seems a perfect fit for the 360. Its graphics are good but not too good as to it being unplayable on "lesser systems" *cough crysis cough*. Plus xbox live is perfect for the multiplayer aspects!

I know a lot of PC fanboys will spit in my face for sayin that, but if they made multiplayer cross platform that just means more players for us all to play with! :D

Hawaiigm:
Wait, they already made Diablo 3, it was called World of Warcraft. Or not. Wonder if they're going to make you pay for this one.

Hell, your day has not been complete if you haven't read the Gamasutra article yet.
It's literally incredible the leeway these guys get.

From initial impressions, the gameplay is exceedingly atmospheric and the user interface is clean - and its ethos is described as "...so simple you can play it with just the mouse." Wilson also focuses on a key tenet of the title - keeping the combat fast.

No kidding, what you see from the movie is slashing groups of stupid AI driven rabits of doom on morphine on and on. You bet you don't need more than one button for that!

Another important evolution of the franchise is the fact that environments will be destroyable - the example shown is a stone wall collapsing on a group of enemies, eliciting crowd glee.

Woooah, man, the evolution!
I don't know what's more retarded. The idea that this is considered an important evolution, or the drooling fans creaming their pants because the guy broke a wall.

So, sure, there's some obvious boasts from the game's creators, with Wilson commenting: "Diablo 3 will be filled with more story and quests than any Diablo before."

You can bet that the first one will be some random boring fantasy tale, and the second will be even more excuses to waste your life, grind and loot.

But overall, there are key changes - the game will, first and foremost, be a co-operative title, according to Wilson. While the designer cautioned the audience that all things can change before the title ships (at a so far unconfirmed future date), he does introduce the audience to a new class, the witch doctor.

Will they remove a class? Did they add only one class? Over all these years, all they can think of is putting one more class and more wacky quests?

Oh, look, it's co-op. Fucking co-op! You never played co-op in Diablo before. And how much will this game cost? Oh, probably enough to cover the cutscene budget I suppose.

[UPDATE: During a panel discussion at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris, Diablo 3's lead designer Jay Wilson explained the much-awaited title would be "one of the first games to... have a lot of replayability through randomness."

Oh wait, like, you mean, random items, random dunjeons and plazas, and random monsters?
Hold me back! Hold me back I tell you!

See:

One of the overarching features that Wilson sees as doing this is the game's generative systems. "Is there randomness?" he asked - "absolutely there is" - citing random monster encounters and items as being a key part of the new game.

AAAA-MAAAAAAAAY-ZING!
And that's a new game?

The title's epic scale includes being "expanded by adding a lot of bigger... outdoor environments" compared to the previous games in the series, according to the designer.

And this is, I suppose, another ground shattering revolution. Hey look, you can walk outside and even fight outside now!
O.O

Wilson admitted: "We could just make Diablo 2 again - and the fans would probably be happy with that," but went on to say that in order to be worthy of Blizzard and worthy of the fans, the game had to be a significant step forward.

"... so we decided to make Diablo 2.1, worthy of Bizzard."

Usability and accessibility are also important to the team. "Better gameplay, less carpal tunnel," is one way that Wilson described it, and he went on to say that the game will be usable by the casual, while retaning depth: "We have a saying - if you can click a mouse, you can play Diablo."

Less carpal tunnel? Who the hell do they think they are kidding now?
What you may trade with a loss of carpal tunnel, notably, say, by more saves, you'll get with more regular play. It's like alcoholics. The real ones, not those who drink a lot but occasionally.

Most notably, Wilson about an element of the game that's clearly important to him - the narrative. "We wanted to improve the story, make a better story, but not lose the feel that Diablo 1 and II had," he said. "If you're interested in the story, it's there for you."

Give me a book. Or better. Your fans have been craving for a full CGI movie since years.
Bizzard moved from a cool studio to the equivalent of Lucas (no need for an evil twin).
You have to admit, how could they make new IPs if, aside from the large amounts of money grossed, breaking walls and a co-op are major revolutions for them!

As one of my friends demonstrated, Diablo 2 was crack in CD form. I only played the first act of D2 before forcing myself to stop lest I become addicted.

I probably won't be able to resist D3 though.

Good for them, I guess. I'm not holding my breath though. I'd need to hold the box in my hand fresh off the shelf to believe it's going to happen.

A big sarcastic whoopdey doo to this.

I have a sudden urge to go look for my D2 disc and reinstall it... and maybe actually finish it this time.

Lvl 64 Klutz:
I have a sudden urge to go look for my D2 disc and reinstall it... and maybe actually finish it this time.

I actually did that a few months ago. After I installed it, my disk drive wouldn't read any other games/DVDs/CDs except for Blizzard-related games. Luckily this was on my craptacular laptop and not on my desktop. I'd hate to be limited to StarCraft and Diablo.

Arbre:

No kidding, what you see from the movie is slashing groups of stupid AI driven rabits of doom on morphine on and on. You bet you don't need more........

/spit
/point
/fart
.
.
.

So, you basicly took every part of Diablo that make it loved by the fans and shat on it, yes, highly original.

Xocrates:

L.B. Jeffries:
I'm confused though...I thought the series ended with the glowing guy blowing up that magic rock and destroying...wait, lemme wiki this.

Not necessarily, in fact if you go back to the city after ending the game, one of the NPCs will actually tell you something along the lines of "maybe we will never have to fight again, maybe we're just starting" (aka, "we'll make a sequel if we feel like it"). The reasons are explained, although I don't really recall them.

The major issue I see is that Diablo, Baal, and Mephisto are supposed to be dead for good. This will either mean that the bad guys will be Belial and Azmodan, which are the two remaining lesser evils (the others were Andariel and Duriel)or they will need to come up with some silly excuse (I'm betting on this one).

And yes, I actually paid attention to the plot of the previous two games :P

Yea well the game is said to take place 20 years after the prime evil's defeat, and also has something to do with a meteor hitting the every spot Diablo first stepped on once he came to the mortal realm, in the cinematic trailer you see a demon kinda like diablo but with 3 heads (or mouths whatever) so maybe its like a reincarnation of all three of the prime evil in one, and I'm betting they will throw in Azmodan and Belial some how

Arbre:
I'm not interested in Hack Hack Heal Hack Hack Heal games, no matter the polish.
Hell, even WCIII became Diablo with more units and some buildings. I looked away for someting more interesting than loot and mindless power leveling.

You either never played WCIII at all or you are on a blizzard hate spree because somebody owned you in any of their games.

We will finally get our end to this god forsaken series

by the by i like Diablo and all its runtie goth children

i never was a big fan of diablo, but for some reason i cant stop watching the gameplay footage

Murphy666:
i never was a big fan of diablo, but for some reason i cant stop watching the gameplay footage

It's so Juicy, isn't it?

Great, here I was saying I was done with PC gaming. Well, better dust off the old 386.