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Product Description
Platform: PC
Amazon.com
Diablo III is a fantasy Action Role-Playing Game (RPG). Only the third major release in what is considered by many gamers as the most iconic RPG franchise of all time, Diablo 3 continues the land of Sanctuary's battle against a reoccurring demonic evil, and provides players around the world with the opportunity to create the ultimate hero to quest against it with friends online, or on their own. Features include: classic dungeon crawling gameplay, a new batch of character classes, multiplayer options with friends and single player support with the help of AI companions, a new take on character skill assignment and health, online item auctioning, and compatibility with Windows and Mac operating systems.
Darkness Falls. Heroes Rise
Two decades have passed since the events of the Diablo II: Lord of Destruction expansion pack, in which the demonic lords, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal, set out across the world of Sanctuary on a vicious rampage, twisting humanity to their unholy will. Yet for those who battled the Prime Evils, the memory fades slowly. When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins of Tristram Cathedral seeking clues to defeat new stirrings of evil, a fiery harbinger of doom falls from the heavens, striking the very ground where Diablo once entered the world. This fire from the sky reawakens ancient evils, but also calls the heroes of Sanctuary to defend the mortal world against the rising powers of the Burning Hells once again.
The long-awaited third major release in the Diablo saga is finally here.
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Key Game Features
- Rediscover the enthralling RPG gameplay of the iconic Diablo franchises in is first game release in nearly 11 years
- Explore fully realized realms of Sanctuary - the living, breathing gothic fantasy world of Diablo III
- Battle the unholy forces of the Burning Hells with five character classes, including the otherworldly Witch Doctor, or with re-imagined warriors from Diablo's past, like the powerful Barbarian
- Rain hell on your enemies and use the interactive environment as a weapon: lay cunning traps, turn destructible objects against your foes, and use environmental obstacles to your advantage - all powered by the Havok physics system
- Experience the intensity of multiplayer Diablo III over an all-new, wickedly enhanced Battle.net platform with numerous enhancements to make connecting with your friends easier, and cooperative gameplay more fun
- In single player quests utilize up to three AI followers, from three different classes who can be equipped with basic items and leveled up
- Skills and abilities are now automatically unlocked as you level, and players are able to actively use more of them simultaneously than ever before
- Experience a new approach to in-game health as the previous reliance on mana and potions is appended by resource types unique to each class, as well as health globes
- The ability to craft unique items with found objects is drastically improved through association in-game blacksmith and Jeweler artisans
- Sell unique items found within the game for in-game gold or real money via online Auction House functionality
- Win/Mac media format ensures that the game is playable on most operating systems
Additional Screenshots
 5 powerful character classes. View larger |  AI followers in single player. View larger |  Online auction functionality. View larger |  Exciting Versus gameplay. View larger |
Product Description
This world was saved twenty years prior by a handful of unnamed heroes in Diablo II. Warriors that survived the onslaught of the armies of the Burning Hells have gone mad from their ordeals and it is up to a new generation of heroes to face the forces of evil threatening the world of Sanctuary. Players will have the opportunity to explore familiar settings such as Tristram.
This game will work on PC or Mac with the one disc that comes in the box. Internet connection is required.
This game will work on PC or Mac with the one disc that comes in the box. Internet connection is required.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2,152 of 2,366 people found the following review helpful
By Herman Au
Platform for Display:PC|Amazon Verified Purchase
Fun:
1.0 out of 5 stars
I have been hesitant to write this review for a long while, but after playing 3 out of 5 classes to 60 and 2 above 40 - I don't know how many times I have walked through the storyline and gone through enough classes to figure out the game at this point to make a fair judgement.
I did not want to believe it. I thought the online community was too quick to judge when D3 (short for Diablo III hereafter) was released as an online only game. I understand from Blizzard's perspective they needed to move on from all the hacking in D2 which ultimately ruined it for many. Even after all these years Diablo 1 and 2 both share extremely high praise for the originality, game design, and the meticulous attention to detail throughout the game design. They are what I would label as "gamer's game" because they're designed, tweaked, and balanced for the gamers' perspective. Simply put, they have been fun, and extremely memorable, which leads to such high anticipation and expectations in Diablo III with so many years in the making, by the gaming industry's gold standard - Blizzard.
But the sad reality is, something changed along the way of the design phase over all these years.
If you played through all acts many times, you would probably notice the same thing - Act1 is WAY more polished than 2, and then 3, and ultimately Act 4 simply is a piece of garbage. A very quick example would be how Act 1 has all these destroyable objects that you could interact and damage the enemies - the environmental factors are a part of the original game design. But by the time you get to Act 4 it's completely gone; Another example would be the storyline and non-linear quest style gameplay which was present in Act 1 turns into Act 4 where you basically go forward, hack and slash til you get to Diablo and suddenly you can't help but ask yourself, is this it? really? Something seems to be missing in the whole Act like a horrible movie where they spend the majority of the time crafting the plot, and by the time the plot is supposed to unravel, it comes to a quick and distasteful ending. Yes, that's Diablo III. The final boss fight came anticlimactic, boring, and childish - even comparing to Diablo *1* that came out some... 16 years ago. Yes I still remember building up fire resist, running around the map dodging Diablo's array of attacks and doing multiple portals with the other online gamers trying to take him down.
Both it's predecessors share the following traits - they're FUN, ADDICTIVE, and CHALLENGING.
Something changed along the way in the D3 design, where they dropped 2 of the 3 traits of the newest Diablo game - it's not fun, not challenging, and they simply made the attempt to make it addictive.
But why you ask?
The fun and challenging part goes hand in hand, because the real cream of the crop in this game is to get to level 60, the highest level in this game in Inferno mode where you cannot continue to advance in levels but you're greeted with supposedly extreme challenges to earn the best gears in the game and continue to tweak your character's gears. That's the design the Diablo franchise has always employed.
But...
As of today, after 3 tweaks since early June 2012, the game is actually more broken than what it originally was.
First off the bet, the difficulty of Inferno is simply stupid. I chose my word here very carefully here, because I've been playing games all my live since the pocket games to Mario on NES to everything til now as a grown adult - yes Inferno is plain stupid. As an advanced casual gamer you will be stuck in Act 2 of Inferno because whatever gears that you can legitimately earn would stop you from advancing. The game isn't just hard - it's plain impossible. It's not only simply impossibly challenging, because if it's remotely challenging that would help separate the skilled and dedicated players from the rest, but nope - it is simply stupid impossible to a point it's just dumb.
How fun would it be if the elite mobs literally move at blinding teleporting kind of speed through your entire screen casting DOT damage all over the screen and putting up walls to avoid you from running (which you can't out run them anyway even if you tried) and there's not one but all 3 of them along with the other screen full of mobs. Sure, you can go back and try to work your way to improve your x-resist and defense and health and think okay you make some advancement and try again, but nope, you still die in an instant. You can teleport back with your group and try again, and nope you all die in an instant.
To solve your gaming frustration?
Easy!
Auction House is there to the rescue
To level the playing field with the most advanced gamers who have farmed the game for the past month filling the online auction house with gears with amazing stats, there's the REAL CURRENCY auction house.
If you haven't earned enough gold to buy what you need? You pay real money to buy the top tear 1% of the gears to help you beat it all the way, and unfortunately for the 99% of the gamers that's the only way to actually meet the challenge set by the game.
Which essentially explains everything that seemed off with all that we have looked at in the above.
Diablo III started off being designed as a gamer's game, but along the way the game design dragged on for way too long and eventually the end product became something that's out there to do what every other product is made to do - to generate profit.
Since D3 cannot adapt the same monthly subscription model like World of Warcraft (also made by Blizzard in case you didn't know), the only way to continue to make a profit from the gamers who have already paid the initial payment for the game is to lure them into spending additional money for in-game items. Although Blizzard claims that they do not post items in the game to sell, they still make a fixed transaction fee on every item sold. With 3.5 million copies sold within the first 24 hours, mathematically it is a sound business model to make money out of a successful game.
The plot is set - we now have a game that's not fun, not challenging, and stupid difficult game that can only be beat that you either spend an unacceptable amount of time which you do not enjoy to farm to earn gold to buy, or hope for a very lucky that would never come because thats how they designed the drop/loot table; OR you take out your wallet and conveniently pay real money for the game that you already paid for to continue to advance.
With the newest patch as of today, Blizzard nerfed one of the most significant stat of the game - IAS (increase attack speed by a whole 50%), drops were decreased, and repair cost is now sky high
It is a tactical move - they needed to first populate the game with godly items, then re-balance the items to make other items also desirable, and finally increase the significance of in game gold and eventually make it more even so you have to pay real money for auction items.
This is when I decided to stop playing this game and to participate in Blizzard's money generating scheme. It is very unfortunate that a game highly anticipated like the D3 made by the gold standard of gaming industry would crash so hard that it is absolutely unbelievable. Maybe it's about time that we all realize that the gaming industry, like all other industries out there, are out there to make money but not to serve gamers like you and I.
Diablo 3 has grown up from Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 - selling it's soul to Diablo (the devil) and becoming Blizzard's attempt to create a cash cow, rather than what we all hoped for. Try it at your own cost, but be prepared for a very sour taste in your mouth and an awful aftertaste that you would love to forget about.
*** edit ***
Since some of you are thinking "why would he spend so much time on a game that's not even good?", I decided include the following in the original review to help you understand better:
The Diablo franchise share many similarities with MMORPGs except it's more of an action game with tons of RPG elements. And like most MMORPG games, it requires the players to put in a lot of game time to get to the "cream of the crop" at max level, where you would have access to most, if not all, spells, equipments, skills, etc. The beginning of the game simply sets you with the pace of the game and familiar with the game mechanics, design, enemies, etc, and the addictive part comes in when you continue to get better equipment, skills, etc to tackle even the toughest challenge. Diablo 3 too shares this very design which require the player to spend enough time to even get to level 60 to finally understand each class design, its pros and cons, and eventually find how you want to tweak your character.
If you do a little research on the internet, you'll find initial reviews for D3 is all positive all across the board. The reason is that during the initial game progression (Act 1 to Act 3 for example in Normal difficulty), is at least a 4-star enjoyable game. But when it comes to the real "cream of the crop" part of the game where you achieve once you get to level 60 where you cannot progress further in level, and the only way left to improve your character is through equipment, it fails miserably as mentioned above in this very review. Like many MMORPGs on the market, level 1-59 simply doesn't quite matter once you get to the level cap.
Just to answer some of the doubts:
- I did not spend 100+ hours in this game; I simply made pretty good progress. I shared my equipment with my other characters to help make leveling much faster. Read more ›
I did not want to believe it. I thought the online community was too quick to judge when D3 (short for Diablo III hereafter) was released as an online only game. I understand from Blizzard's perspective they needed to move on from all the hacking in D2 which ultimately ruined it for many. Even after all these years Diablo 1 and 2 both share extremely high praise for the originality, game design, and the meticulous attention to detail throughout the game design. They are what I would label as "gamer's game" because they're designed, tweaked, and balanced for the gamers' perspective. Simply put, they have been fun, and extremely memorable, which leads to such high anticipation and expectations in Diablo III with so many years in the making, by the gaming industry's gold standard - Blizzard.
But the sad reality is, something changed along the way of the design phase over all these years.
If you played through all acts many times, you would probably notice the same thing - Act1 is WAY more polished than 2, and then 3, and ultimately Act 4 simply is a piece of garbage. A very quick example would be how Act 1 has all these destroyable objects that you could interact and damage the enemies - the environmental factors are a part of the original game design. But by the time you get to Act 4 it's completely gone; Another example would be the storyline and non-linear quest style gameplay which was present in Act 1 turns into Act 4 where you basically go forward, hack and slash til you get to Diablo and suddenly you can't help but ask yourself, is this it? really? Something seems to be missing in the whole Act like a horrible movie where they spend the majority of the time crafting the plot, and by the time the plot is supposed to unravel, it comes to a quick and distasteful ending. Yes, that's Diablo III. The final boss fight came anticlimactic, boring, and childish - even comparing to Diablo *1* that came out some... 16 years ago. Yes I still remember building up fire resist, running around the map dodging Diablo's array of attacks and doing multiple portals with the other online gamers trying to take him down.
Both it's predecessors share the following traits - they're FUN, ADDICTIVE, and CHALLENGING.
Something changed along the way in the D3 design, where they dropped 2 of the 3 traits of the newest Diablo game - it's not fun, not challenging, and they simply made the attempt to make it addictive.
But why you ask?
The fun and challenging part goes hand in hand, because the real cream of the crop in this game is to get to level 60, the highest level in this game in Inferno mode where you cannot continue to advance in levels but you're greeted with supposedly extreme challenges to earn the best gears in the game and continue to tweak your character's gears. That's the design the Diablo franchise has always employed.
But...
As of today, after 3 tweaks since early June 2012, the game is actually more broken than what it originally was.
First off the bet, the difficulty of Inferno is simply stupid. I chose my word here very carefully here, because I've been playing games all my live since the pocket games to Mario on NES to everything til now as a grown adult - yes Inferno is plain stupid. As an advanced casual gamer you will be stuck in Act 2 of Inferno because whatever gears that you can legitimately earn would stop you from advancing. The game isn't just hard - it's plain impossible. It's not only simply impossibly challenging, because if it's remotely challenging that would help separate the skilled and dedicated players from the rest, but nope - it is simply stupid impossible to a point it's just dumb.
How fun would it be if the elite mobs literally move at blinding teleporting kind of speed through your entire screen casting DOT damage all over the screen and putting up walls to avoid you from running (which you can't out run them anyway even if you tried) and there's not one but all 3 of them along with the other screen full of mobs. Sure, you can go back and try to work your way to improve your x-resist and defense and health and think okay you make some advancement and try again, but nope, you still die in an instant. You can teleport back with your group and try again, and nope you all die in an instant.
To solve your gaming frustration?
Easy!
Auction House is there to the rescue
To level the playing field with the most advanced gamers who have farmed the game for the past month filling the online auction house with gears with amazing stats, there's the REAL CURRENCY auction house.
If you haven't earned enough gold to buy what you need? You pay real money to buy the top tear 1% of the gears to help you beat it all the way, and unfortunately for the 99% of the gamers that's the only way to actually meet the challenge set by the game.
Which essentially explains everything that seemed off with all that we have looked at in the above.
Diablo III started off being designed as a gamer's game, but along the way the game design dragged on for way too long and eventually the end product became something that's out there to do what every other product is made to do - to generate profit.
Since D3 cannot adapt the same monthly subscription model like World of Warcraft (also made by Blizzard in case you didn't know), the only way to continue to make a profit from the gamers who have already paid the initial payment for the game is to lure them into spending additional money for in-game items. Although Blizzard claims that they do not post items in the game to sell, they still make a fixed transaction fee on every item sold. With 3.5 million copies sold within the first 24 hours, mathematically it is a sound business model to make money out of a successful game.
The plot is set - we now have a game that's not fun, not challenging, and stupid difficult game that can only be beat that you either spend an unacceptable amount of time which you do not enjoy to farm to earn gold to buy, or hope for a very lucky that would never come because thats how they designed the drop/loot table; OR you take out your wallet and conveniently pay real money for the game that you already paid for to continue to advance.
With the newest patch as of today, Blizzard nerfed one of the most significant stat of the game - IAS (increase attack speed by a whole 50%), drops were decreased, and repair cost is now sky high
It is a tactical move - they needed to first populate the game with godly items, then re-balance the items to make other items also desirable, and finally increase the significance of in game gold and eventually make it more even so you have to pay real money for auction items.
This is when I decided to stop playing this game and to participate in Blizzard's money generating scheme. It is very unfortunate that a game highly anticipated like the D3 made by the gold standard of gaming industry would crash so hard that it is absolutely unbelievable. Maybe it's about time that we all realize that the gaming industry, like all other industries out there, are out there to make money but not to serve gamers like you and I.
Diablo 3 has grown up from Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 - selling it's soul to Diablo (the devil) and becoming Blizzard's attempt to create a cash cow, rather than what we all hoped for. Try it at your own cost, but be prepared for a very sour taste in your mouth and an awful aftertaste that you would love to forget about.
*** edit ***
Since some of you are thinking "why would he spend so much time on a game that's not even good?", I decided include the following in the original review to help you understand better:
The Diablo franchise share many similarities with MMORPGs except it's more of an action game with tons of RPG elements. And like most MMORPG games, it requires the players to put in a lot of game time to get to the "cream of the crop" at max level, where you would have access to most, if not all, spells, equipments, skills, etc. The beginning of the game simply sets you with the pace of the game and familiar with the game mechanics, design, enemies, etc, and the addictive part comes in when you continue to get better equipment, skills, etc to tackle even the toughest challenge. Diablo 3 too shares this very design which require the player to spend enough time to even get to level 60 to finally understand each class design, its pros and cons, and eventually find how you want to tweak your character.
If you do a little research on the internet, you'll find initial reviews for D3 is all positive all across the board. The reason is that during the initial game progression (Act 1 to Act 3 for example in Normal difficulty), is at least a 4-star enjoyable game. But when it comes to the real "cream of the crop" part of the game where you achieve once you get to level 60 where you cannot progress further in level, and the only way left to improve your character is through equipment, it fails miserably as mentioned above in this very review. Like many MMORPGs on the market, level 1-59 simply doesn't quite matter once you get to the level cap.
Just to answer some of the doubts:
- I did not spend 100+ hours in this game; I simply made pretty good progress. I shared my equipment with my other characters to help make leveling much faster. Read more ›
3,762 of 4,173 people found the following review helpful
By Diablo
Platform for Display:PC
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For the last 15 years, as I served as the constant whipping post for thousands...nay, MILLIONS of pathetic worms who have plundered my depths and banished me and my brothers to the soulstones time and time again! NO LONGER! On May 15 in the year of the Panda, 2012, my plan to claim victory over the Nine Hells and the High Heavens has come to fruition! Behold, the chronicle of my journey thus far!
Day 1: Millions of hapless insects gathered with their gold in hand and their steel drawn as they prepared to storm my doorstep, thinking that I, the Lord of Terror, would stand idly by as you farmed me for loot. Little did you suspect that my secret weapon "error 3007" would lay you all low! Those of you that happened to slip by my net came face to face with my uberlieutenants-- Lagmodan, The Serverbreaker,and Archbishop Disconnectus.
Day 2-5: See day 1...
Day 6: The delays caused by my impenetrable server defenses allowed me to fortify the Champions of Hell and overwhelm the puny Nephalem forces when they finally arrived...such awesome and destructive powers as: Molten QQ, Plague of Ridiculous Enrage Timers, and Arcane Orbital Repair Bills. To finalize my triumph, I ensured that any artifacts that my minions were carrying were at LEAST 5 levels lower and were utterly useless to the would-be plunderer. Truly the tears of the righteous are as music to my blackened soul!
Day 7: I rested...
Day 37: I have struck another triumphant blow! I have created a market place for the Nephalem, which is the only means of obtaining artifacts of any significant power. However, the true devious nature of this monstrosity is what makes it so delicious! In order to utilize it, the Nephalem are required to use a strange currency known as US Dollars, which they cannot access unless they willingly pay a 30% tithe to the forces of evil! MUAHAHAHAH! I really intended to slaughter them on day 1 with this device, but Belial was having trouble getting the Koreans on board with it.
Day 38: Once my demonic auction house of real money was fully operational, and the sniveling maggots were happily lapping up items of significant power with which to best my forces...I dropped ANOTHER masterful stroke on them, claiming yet another victory for Team Hell! I unleashed the Mighty Nerf-alem Hammer on all treasures under the High Heavens, making them nearly useless. Many who had spent their precious gold, real and virtual, were now banished to the Halls of Buyer's Remorse. I used the tears and subsequent blood of my fallen enemies to fill a bath, and washed myself in the Basin of Greedy Deception!
Day 45 and counting...: My saga continues to unfold, as many once-hopeful heroes have abandoned their quest altogether. Perhaps they will have an easier time slaying pandas soon... Those stalwarts who have chosen to stay, trapped in my Devilish Hamster Wheel of Doom and cursed to wander the Malignant Slot Machine of Rmah, do so in the vain hope that "things will get better." No mortal, they will NOT! Even when you are able to use the treasure you have purchased against EACH OTHER in Player vs. Player combat (no, really, it's coming...TRUST me...*evil laugh*), you will still be subject to my law of Eternal Internet Connection. Only once I've milked every last dollar and gold piece from these lackeys will I then pull the plug on the ServerStone forever! Just in time for Heart of the Swarm and Pandasy Island to be unleashed upon this ripe, unsuspecting world!
Sincerely yours,
Diablo
Lord of Terror
PS. Yesterday, my watchful eye spotted a 59 year old Hardcore Witch Doctor who was about to celebrate his 60th Season. I unleashed a Latency Storm on him as he was engaging 3 champion Heralds with "Waller, Plague, Arcane and Extra Life"...he is now a level 3 HC Monk. O tis fun to be evil!
Day 1: Millions of hapless insects gathered with their gold in hand and their steel drawn as they prepared to storm my doorstep, thinking that I, the Lord of Terror, would stand idly by as you farmed me for loot. Little did you suspect that my secret weapon "error 3007" would lay you all low! Those of you that happened to slip by my net came face to face with my uberlieutenants-- Lagmodan, The Serverbreaker,and Archbishop Disconnectus.
Day 2-5: See day 1...
Day 6: The delays caused by my impenetrable server defenses allowed me to fortify the Champions of Hell and overwhelm the puny Nephalem forces when they finally arrived...such awesome and destructive powers as: Molten QQ, Plague of Ridiculous Enrage Timers, and Arcane Orbital Repair Bills. To finalize my triumph, I ensured that any artifacts that my minions were carrying were at LEAST 5 levels lower and were utterly useless to the would-be plunderer. Truly the tears of the righteous are as music to my blackened soul!
Day 7: I rested...
Day 37: I have struck another triumphant blow! I have created a market place for the Nephalem, which is the only means of obtaining artifacts of any significant power. However, the true devious nature of this monstrosity is what makes it so delicious! In order to utilize it, the Nephalem are required to use a strange currency known as US Dollars, which they cannot access unless they willingly pay a 30% tithe to the forces of evil! MUAHAHAHAH! I really intended to slaughter them on day 1 with this device, but Belial was having trouble getting the Koreans on board with it.
Day 38: Once my demonic auction house of real money was fully operational, and the sniveling maggots were happily lapping up items of significant power with which to best my forces...I dropped ANOTHER masterful stroke on them, claiming yet another victory for Team Hell! I unleashed the Mighty Nerf-alem Hammer on all treasures under the High Heavens, making them nearly useless. Many who had spent their precious gold, real and virtual, were now banished to the Halls of Buyer's Remorse. I used the tears and subsequent blood of my fallen enemies to fill a bath, and washed myself in the Basin of Greedy Deception!
Day 45 and counting...: My saga continues to unfold, as many once-hopeful heroes have abandoned their quest altogether. Perhaps they will have an easier time slaying pandas soon... Those stalwarts who have chosen to stay, trapped in my Devilish Hamster Wheel of Doom and cursed to wander the Malignant Slot Machine of Rmah, do so in the vain hope that "things will get better." No mortal, they will NOT! Even when you are able to use the treasure you have purchased against EACH OTHER in Player vs. Player combat (no, really, it's coming...TRUST me...*evil laugh*), you will still be subject to my law of Eternal Internet Connection. Only once I've milked every last dollar and gold piece from these lackeys will I then pull the plug on the ServerStone forever! Just in time for Heart of the Swarm and Pandasy Island to be unleashed upon this ripe, unsuspecting world!
Sincerely yours,
Diablo
Lord of Terror
PS. Yesterday, my watchful eye spotted a 59 year old Hardcore Witch Doctor who was about to celebrate his 60th Season. I unleashed a Latency Storm on him as he was engaging 3 champion Heralds with "Waller, Plague, Arcane and Extra Life"...he is now a level 3 HC Monk. O tis fun to be evil!
1,106 of 1,248 people found the following review helpful
By Eric
Platform for Display:PC
Fun:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The best part of this game is seeing the few minutes of cinematics. No, seriously. Just save your money and watch the cinematics on YouTube.
Where do I even begin?
*** Character and Skill Customization ***
There is no appearance customization aside from choosing your character's gender and using some dyes to change the color of your armor. I personally don't care about this, but some people do.
However, I DO care very deeply about skill customization, because different choices create different playstyles, which can make a game interesting. Boy, did they botch this badly. You are limited to using only 6 skills at a time (and forget about changing them during a gaming session in Inferno or you will lose an important stacking buff called Nephalim Valor).
Furthermore, the final difficulty level of the game (which is where most players will obviously end up and want to progress), called Inferno, is tuned to such an extreme degree that only a few class skills and strategies are even viable (Blizzard/Hydra kiting for ten minutes is fun, right?!) and other skills are downright mandatory (Energy Armor with Force rune, anyone? How about War Cry? Know any barbarians without it?).
*** Inferno Tuning ***
Simply ridiculous. A game is supposed to be fun. Don't get me wrong, I love a good challenge. I've spent countless hundreds of hours in World of Warcraft, during Vanilla and in every expansion thereafter, dying repeatedly (aka wiping) to progress on raid encounter bosses. Happily doing so. Because that is what you expect in the end game of MMORPGs.
But Diablo isn't World of Warcraft. Diablo is essentially a hack and slash game, an action RPG. Such games are supposed to be fast and furious and fun, blowing up hordes of baddies in the mad search for cool items. Therefore, not being able to withstand a sneeze from an enemy monster while wearing decent gear is just plain stupid.
Even after stacking Vitality (for health) and Resistances, my wizard dies after 3 hits from anything (and that's only because of a class skill I'm forced to take for survival; other range classes simply die after 1 hit and melee classes are pigeon-holed into tanking). So after three hits from anything (a stray arrow, the tiniest minion's slap, an unavoidable mortar because I'm jailed), I'm dead.
It wouldn't be so bad if you had room to move around or could see far enough away to avoid an ambush, but you don't and you can't. You are going to open a door or monsters will spawn from the ground, and you will instantly die. Don't even get me started on Vortex. So now you get to enjoy a resurrection timer before you run all the way back to your body, revive and die again. Rinse and repeat, and Blizzard just increased the repair costs in game, yay!
Furthermore, players routinely have to Leave Game because elites with certain combinations of abilities are simply unkillable. Is that good game design?! It doesn't get much better with better gear either. Gear which you can't afford or farm for anyway. We'll get to that later.
*** Dungeons and Items ***
You know that awesome feeling you got in other games when exploring a new, unknown dungeon? Wondering what you might face? What awesome items you might find to improve your character or party?
Well, forget about ever feeling that with Diablo 3. The dungeons are short and repetitive. Not to mention, you are proceeding along part of the same quest line for the 100th time just to face the same bosses (great, it's the Butcher boss again). If you were expecting truly randomized dungeons, where you could explore with your friends for hours, forget about it.
And you know, such tedious farming might actually be worth it if you got the rare gratification of actually finding a useful item for yourself. But you won't. You are going to farm the same trash, the same elites and the same bosses over and over and over again, only to vendor everything you find. If you're lucky, you might find an item worth selling to someone else. That brings me to my next section.
*** The Auction House ***
You are quickly going to realize that you are doing nothing in this game but farming gold in order to buy items from the auction house. However, due to bots (programs which farm gold around the clock) and duping (copying of items by exploiting the code), the market has already spun out of control. Blizzard is trying to wrestle some control back, but the damage has been done. Billions of gold is now floating in the market and prices are so inflated that you can't even afford to buy the kind of upgrades you will need to progress in Inferno.
Blizzard intends to make some better items drop (at a very tiny rate) in earlier Acts of Inferno in a future patch (to throw a bone to the vast majority of players who couldn't race to 60 and get into Inferno before prices spiraled out of control, due to pesky jobs and families and whatnot), but it seems to be too little too late. Who really wants to do yet another Butcher farm run? Just the thought of it makes me want to gag.
At this point, you can only hope that Blizzard's stealth game limit cap implemented in the last patch (to crack down on bots) combined with more determined players gradually grinding and farming their way through Inferno will eventually lead to a reduction in AH prices to something more attainable to players who can't spend 8 hours a day graveyard zerging their way through content.
*** Recap ***
You can't progress in Inferno without gear. You can't farm the gear you need yet. You can't afford it either. Your only solution right now is to pay real dollars on the AH and buy your way to victory. That will certainly make you feel like a hero against the hordes of hell!
What a disgusting disappointment for a longtime fan (I flew to the last two BlizzCons and have been playing the franchises since they began) and shareholder (soon to be former shareholder) in the company. After years of development and hype, this is the best they have to offer? With nearly unlimited resources, this is what they produced? It makes me want to vomit.
Where do I even begin?
*** Character and Skill Customization ***
There is no appearance customization aside from choosing your character's gender and using some dyes to change the color of your armor. I personally don't care about this, but some people do.
However, I DO care very deeply about skill customization, because different choices create different playstyles, which can make a game interesting. Boy, did they botch this badly. You are limited to using only 6 skills at a time (and forget about changing them during a gaming session in Inferno or you will lose an important stacking buff called Nephalim Valor).
Furthermore, the final difficulty level of the game (which is where most players will obviously end up and want to progress), called Inferno, is tuned to such an extreme degree that only a few class skills and strategies are even viable (Blizzard/Hydra kiting for ten minutes is fun, right?!) and other skills are downright mandatory (Energy Armor with Force rune, anyone? How about War Cry? Know any barbarians without it?).
*** Inferno Tuning ***
Simply ridiculous. A game is supposed to be fun. Don't get me wrong, I love a good challenge. I've spent countless hundreds of hours in World of Warcraft, during Vanilla and in every expansion thereafter, dying repeatedly (aka wiping) to progress on raid encounter bosses. Happily doing so. Because that is what you expect in the end game of MMORPGs.
But Diablo isn't World of Warcraft. Diablo is essentially a hack and slash game, an action RPG. Such games are supposed to be fast and furious and fun, blowing up hordes of baddies in the mad search for cool items. Therefore, not being able to withstand a sneeze from an enemy monster while wearing decent gear is just plain stupid.
Even after stacking Vitality (for health) and Resistances, my wizard dies after 3 hits from anything (and that's only because of a class skill I'm forced to take for survival; other range classes simply die after 1 hit and melee classes are pigeon-holed into tanking). So after three hits from anything (a stray arrow, the tiniest minion's slap, an unavoidable mortar because I'm jailed), I'm dead.
It wouldn't be so bad if you had room to move around or could see far enough away to avoid an ambush, but you don't and you can't. You are going to open a door or monsters will spawn from the ground, and you will instantly die. Don't even get me started on Vortex. So now you get to enjoy a resurrection timer before you run all the way back to your body, revive and die again. Rinse and repeat, and Blizzard just increased the repair costs in game, yay!
Furthermore, players routinely have to Leave Game because elites with certain combinations of abilities are simply unkillable. Is that good game design?! It doesn't get much better with better gear either. Gear which you can't afford or farm for anyway. We'll get to that later.
*** Dungeons and Items ***
You know that awesome feeling you got in other games when exploring a new, unknown dungeon? Wondering what you might face? What awesome items you might find to improve your character or party?
Well, forget about ever feeling that with Diablo 3. The dungeons are short and repetitive. Not to mention, you are proceeding along part of the same quest line for the 100th time just to face the same bosses (great, it's the Butcher boss again). If you were expecting truly randomized dungeons, where you could explore with your friends for hours, forget about it.
And you know, such tedious farming might actually be worth it if you got the rare gratification of actually finding a useful item for yourself. But you won't. You are going to farm the same trash, the same elites and the same bosses over and over and over again, only to vendor everything you find. If you're lucky, you might find an item worth selling to someone else. That brings me to my next section.
*** The Auction House ***
You are quickly going to realize that you are doing nothing in this game but farming gold in order to buy items from the auction house. However, due to bots (programs which farm gold around the clock) and duping (copying of items by exploiting the code), the market has already spun out of control. Blizzard is trying to wrestle some control back, but the damage has been done. Billions of gold is now floating in the market and prices are so inflated that you can't even afford to buy the kind of upgrades you will need to progress in Inferno.
Blizzard intends to make some better items drop (at a very tiny rate) in earlier Acts of Inferno in a future patch (to throw a bone to the vast majority of players who couldn't race to 60 and get into Inferno before prices spiraled out of control, due to pesky jobs and families and whatnot), but it seems to be too little too late. Who really wants to do yet another Butcher farm run? Just the thought of it makes me want to gag.
At this point, you can only hope that Blizzard's stealth game limit cap implemented in the last patch (to crack down on bots) combined with more determined players gradually grinding and farming their way through Inferno will eventually lead to a reduction in AH prices to something more attainable to players who can't spend 8 hours a day graveyard zerging their way through content.
*** Recap ***
You can't progress in Inferno without gear. You can't farm the gear you need yet. You can't afford it either. Your only solution right now is to pay real dollars on the AH and buy your way to victory. That will certainly make you feel like a hero against the hordes of hell!
What a disgusting disappointment for a longtime fan (I flew to the last two BlizzCons and have been playing the franchises since they began) and shareholder (soon to be former shareholder) in the company. After years of development and hype, this is the best they have to offer? With nearly unlimited resources, this is what they produced? It makes me want to vomit.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Random WoW looking top down game
If you like Diablo series for its dark, creative and fun story. This game well it wont suit you, I wont write a long review the games not worth it. Read more
Published 17 hours ago by Jonner
1.0 out of 5 stars
Piss Poor Game, stop supporting crappy developers
This game was 10 years in the making and what a disappointment. We are a year after release and the game is still a disappointment. Read more
Published 17 hours ago by Hostage67
2.0 out of 5 stars
All reviews correct. Blizzard and Battle.net are the culprits.
I have played a few years on WoW and a year on D3 and am finally throwing in the towel.
All reviews are correct so I will vent on the makers just to hope I am not a majority... Read more
All reviews are correct so I will vent on the makers just to hope I am not a majority... Read more
Published 20 hours ago by D. Giggy
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very good game. but...
...not sure it was worth a 12 year wait. The cut sceens are movie quality and the in game graphics are great. Read more
Published 1 day ago by W. Marshall
5.0 out of 5 stars
BUY IT NOW
Great color, effects, backgrounds.
I am not so happy with the history but ITS DIABLO!!
A lot of evil forces
Great Game, but i hate the synchronize thing with... Read more
I am not so happy with the history but ITS DIABLO!!
A lot of evil forces
Great Game, but i hate the synchronize thing with... Read more
Published 1 day ago by Jose Zamora
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great if you like D2.
I don't understand the general negative response.
It's exactly what I expected. Diablo II with better graphics and some new features. Read more
It's exactly what I expected. Diablo II with better graphics and some new features. Read more
Published 1 day ago by C. Foster
4.0 out of 5 stars
Don't listen to the idiots
I'm still playing D3 after a year now, it's much better than before, and will only get tweaked in the days to come. This game didn't have a lot of hope... Read more
Published 2 days ago by Matt
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing game that is suitable for all gaming playstyles!
There are several areas in which Diablo III can be debated on and whether they are good or bad.
1. Read more
1. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Ustym Koshak
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very fun, thousands of hours of gameplay
First of all, I want to say I've put in over a thousand hours of gameplay into this game. It's been more than worth the $60 I paid for it when it came out. Read more
Published 4 days ago by brown
1.0 out of 5 stars
1 year old and still not quite there yet
It has been about a year since the release of Diablo 3 and lots of things have been patched into the game to address the many faults it had at launch. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Orson Lee
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