I am through Act 1 and into Act 2 of Diablo 3. Like many of you I have finally over-come the first day, second, day, third day server crashes and now I’m into a groove playing Diablo 3. And I have to say, the game fits like a comfortable old shoe.
As a huge fan of Diablo 2 and the Expansion to that game, I was desperate for a sequel after I played it through on all the available toons. And like everyone I had to wait well over a decade for the sequel. Well, I got that sequel. A sequel to a game first designed nearly 20 years ago. Diablo 3 has some great tweaks to the experience, but over-all there is little innovation here. It’s the same click-fest dungeon crawler.
Don’t get me wrong, I love that game, but I felt that while playing through Act 1 I was simply playing an expansion to Diablo 2. And that may be just fine for many players.
I am a big fan of how the skills work in Diablo 3. In fact, I said to a few guildies that I wish WoW’s skill tree resembled the system in place here. The fact that you have a base line skill that scales with your toon that can be modifed by unlocking a rune is really quite cool. And both aesthetically and statistically the runes affect your playstyle. I think that it works great, and in a way it gives you that ‘unique’ playstyle some players think they want.
The Game LOOKS fantastic. It’s really designed well and somehow the cinematics look better than ever. The story line is compelling enough, and that macabre dark edge is still present, just like it was in Diablo 2.
The addition of the ‘companions’ is a lot of fun; but as a ranged player (Demon Hunter) I’m not seeing much motivation to switch from to the Scoundrel or Enchantress yet. That being said, I’ll probably adjust my skills for the Templar as he’s not the ‘tank’ I need him to be.
Lastly as a UI nerd, I LOVE how this UI is laid out and utilized, especially the Vendor Panes and Character / Inventory Panes. It’s a big step forward from the previous design and not to sound like a broken record, but I’d love that style of UI in WoW. Very clean and efficient.
So, what’s missing? Not much really for a Dungeon Crawler. However, I feel the social component is far behind the experience you get with WoW and that’s to be expected. But ultimately that will cut back on the replay efforts for me. I miss a guild chat pane. This was a common thread for me throughout my play. Parts of the game, I wanted in WoW, parts of WoW I wanted in D3. You really can’t have your cake and eat it too, and sure who would want to? D3 is Dark and Dangerous. WoW is epic and fun. So, for me, D3 is a lovely distraction until MOP comes out. But that’s all it will be, and that’s all I need. I don’t need to invest in D3 like you do in WoW, and that’s why it’s a terrific companion game. If I want to break up the grind of WoW, I can jump in at any time and play Diablo 3, and for me… that will be just fine.