Diablo III is a game that many players may have forgotten about over the past four years as the title has gone through a number of massive changes. However, it’s a game that shouldn’t be lost to time as the amount of replayability and refinement within the mechanics have molded it to near perfection. It’s a title that has withstood the test of time and needs to be recognized for how far it has come.
Now as we approach Blizzcon 2016 and the possibility of more content, it’s time to look back and reflect on the one game that fought its way to the very top after even after suffering some nearly fatal wounds.
In order to understand why Diablo III is still one of the best dungeon crawlers ever made, we need to look back at its initial release in 2012. Announced at Blizzcon 2008, Diablo III was a game that was wildly anticipated by fans and critics alike. Upon its release, the critical reviews for the game were largely positive with outlets like Polygon, Giant Bomb, and Joystiq giving the RPG perfect scores. Averaging out a solid 88% from the gaming press, it seemed like Blizzard had another success on their hands.
Fans flocked to the game making it the most pre-ordered PC game on Amazon which caused it to sell over 3.5 million copies on the first day. However, it soon became apparent to players that Diablo III had some serious problems beginning to crop up as it suffered a horrendous launch day that saw players unable to connect to servers or login. Now this is obviously due to the high rate of players buying the game, yet once people actually got access, another issue begin to slowly form: the Auction House.
For those who have never played Diablo III during its early years, there was a system dubbed the “Auction House” that would allow players to buy and sell goods for both in-game and real world money. This caused a number of issues thanks to Diablo III’s stingy drop rate for rare or legendary gear. It got so out of hand that a player allegedly made over $10,000 just from selling in-game items. Diablo III’s Auction House made the game less about exploring dungeons for rare gear and more about just waiting for the best deals to be available on the Auction House.
Due to all of these problems the user’s for this title were incredibly harsh, earning it a solid 4.0 from the community. Now with around 65% of the player base gone Blizzard bet all of their chips on the upcoming expansion’s ability to save this game.
Announced at Gamescom 2014, this new expansion was called “Reaper of Souls,” which not only introduced a new story, but set to fix all of the problems plaguing the vanilla game. Reaper of Souls was hailed by critics and embraced by the fan base due to the major changes it made to almost every aspect of the mechanics. The Auction House was swiftly shut down, and with it, a new progression system called “Loot 2.0” was introduced to help curtail the terrible drop rate for gear. Players instantly noticed the improved amount of loot, which helped increase the replayability of Diablo III thanks to players always having a constant increase in their power.
All of this culminated into the “Nephalem Rift” system which were procedurally generated dungeons full of different enemies, traps, and bosses. This allowed for nearly infinite replayability for players as they could constantly up the difficulty, obtain higher end loot, and continue to climb up the leaderboards. Blizzard also included a number of bonus areas such as Treasure Rift which is full of gold and the infamous cow level where players must slay hordes of murderous bovine.
These implementations, along with the inclusion of the new Crusader class and specific armor sets, have added a lot more customization to players’ characters. By doing this Blizzard drastically increased the longevity of their game, allowing teams of players to mix and match their sets of armor to form interesting and dynamic synergies. Though Blizzard’s best idea was still a few months out and would help set Diablo III as one of the best dungeon crawlers ever made.
On August 29, 2014, Blizzard’s newest concept, Seasons, were introduced to the player base and gave Diablo III a shot of adrenaline. Seasons are 2-3 month long events that allow players to create new characters that they can level up via playing the story or completing various bounties scattered about the five chapters. Players compete for leaderboard rankings and can be rewarded with everything from new pets, wings, storage space, and unique armor sets.
At the end of each season, both your character and all of the gear he/she has acquired is transferred over to your main account, along with all of the experience you gained which is shared among every one of your heroes. Sadly though console players were not given this feature, making Diablo III’s future rely solely on the PC community.
This not only allowed players to focus on growing their non-seasonal heroes but offered them chances to try out new classes they may have not played. There was also a fair amount of challenges for players to beat in order to unlock even more goodies, adding context and goals for those who were growing tired of just running Rifts. Along with this, various armor sets had specific dungeons crafted for them which would put players to the test and serve as some of the most difficult parts in all of Diablo III.
Now with Season 8 having just launched it’s clear that this was a successful idea, though one has to wonder how long this can last. Though many have speculated a return for the game at this year’s Blizzcon despite the title being four years old.
A few days ago, apparent art worked leaked that showcased the possible return of the Necromancer class that was surprisingly absent from the original title. Adding a new character could easily inject some new life and replayability for Diablo III, especially if it comes with multiple armor sets like the other classes. However, the only problem is that the Witch Doctor acts currently as the game’s pet class, which could put the Necromancer into a bit of an awkward spot.
There is also the chance that a brand new expansion will release given Blizzard has been known to take a couple of years for each one. This would also make sense for the Necromancer reveal as our last new hero, the Crusader, came with the Reaper of Souls DLC. Now there is a very, very slim chance that Diablo IV gets announced, though this is something we highly doubt. As awesome as it would be, Blizzard has a tendency to only make a sequel when it ‘s absolutely needed. Either way, if something new isn’t added into Diablo III there is a chance for it just fade out slowly as players begin to wait for the inevitable sequel.
Yet, it’s still important to look back and recognize the massive achievement that Diablo III was and is. It’s a game that currently has a near perfect loot system and shows how to add replayability to a game. The balance of characters, enemies, and gear is remarkable and jumping back into the game after months of ignoring it felt both natural and fun. It’s a game that shouldn’t be missed by any fan of the dungeon crawler genre, even if you are four years late to the party. Now all we have to do is wait and see if Blizzard delivers more to this devilishly delightful title.
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