Diablo 3is the threequel of a beloved and time-consuming franchise. The series is rich with the backdrop of dark lore, where the forces of heaven and hell are in constant war, while the mortal realm of Sanctuary defends itself from each of the two forces.Diablo 2, though,was a staple of the series, both in terms of fleshing out the lore and the itemization, with some hardcore fans still grinding away a whopping 2 decades later, despite there being a sequel. It has now been 9 years since the release ofDiablo 3,with the prequelDiablo: Immortaland sequelDiablo 4in the works.
TheDiablofranchise started in 1997 when the originalDiablocame out. Introducing an action combat system and dynamic loot and character progression, it was received very well, eventuallyreleasing an expansion calledHellfirelater in the same year. 3 years afterDiablo 1released came the highly successful sequelDiablo 2,improving on the game mechanics, replayability, itemization mechanics, lore, and graphics. It would be 12 years since the launch ofDiablo 2before fans got a taste of its sequelDiablo 3,though it couldn’t seem to capture the same magic. With all of the content coming to the franchise,Diablo 3may find itself squeezed out on all sides.
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What Sets Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 Apart
Diablo 3had a shaken launch, with both pre-order and server issues immediately impacting the experience. Many fans who anticipated the release were met with Error 37, which meant that the servers were busy and to try again later. This upset a lot of fans, as the long-awaitedDiablo 3did not include the option to play LAN or offline, despite the pleas of fans. As a result, many players were stuck unable to play the game, while those who were able to had a huge head start through the content.
Diablo 3also launched with both an auction houseand a real-money auction house, though both were not received well by the community. Both of the auction houses had issues with exploiters and ultimately went against the nature of the kill-loot-repeat cycle of the game itself.Diablo 2never tinkered with the idea of an auction house, though allowed players to trade their Unique items with other players, somethingDiablo 3failed to replicate. InDiablo 3,if a player were playing a Barbarian and found Legendary gear for a Witch Doctor, they wouldn’t be able to trade to their Witch Doctor friend as that is just simply impossible.
TheDiabloseries is known for killing hordes of monsters for copious amounts of loot that a player can use to build their characters. A player’s choice in how they progresstheir character inDiablo 2is important as they only get up to 3 respecs per character. As a result, a player would have to figure out how they wanted to play their character, and the loot they find would supplement their decisions. InDiablo 2,this included Normal, Magic, Rare, Unique, and Set items, all having the possibility to be useful for a player’s build in one way or another. This is whereDiablo 3falls short because it places all of a character’s build success strictly in its Legendary and Set items, locking out a majority of item rarities a player would find.
Players enjoyedDiablo 2for a variety of reasons such as uber boss farming, crafting, PVP, grinding to Level 99, and the endless grind for astronomically rare drops such as Tyrael’s Might or Mang Song’s Lesson. Despite being an old game at this point,Diablo 2had a lot to offer and stands the test of time, asplayers anticipate its revival inDiablo 2: Resurrected, so they can hopefully grind away for another 20 years.
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Diablo 4 and Diablo 2 Leave Diablo 3 in a Tight Spot
At this point,Diablo 3’slongevity is on a timer because behind it there is the belovedDiablo 2that won’t die and is, in fact, being reborn, while looking forward players have bothDiablo 4andDiablo: Immortalto try.Diablo 4will be bringing back some features of oldthat weren’t inDiablo 3,such as old classes and a real emphasis on PVP whileDiablo: Immortalwill allow players to get thatDiabloitch satisfied anywhere they happen to have a signal.Diablo 3is still stuck in its linear style of character progression, and it doesn’t seem like it’s able to move away from it.
The progress inDiablo 3basically had the player grind their character to the max level of 70, then farm gear until they had their complete Set for the skill they wanted to play, ultimately leading players to farm the same Ancient version of the gear they already had. This was important as the main chunk of gameplay was grinding the same Rift / Greater Rift to stand out on the leaderboard. Aside from that, there wasn’t a whole lot of substance as Paragon Levels, the game’s endless level system in the end-game, rewarded players who poured endless hours into their characters, not players just starting out.
This meant anyone who wanted to push higher Greater Rifts wouldn’t be able to compete with the leaderboards if that was their desire. If players wanted to push really high Greater Rifts, they could only use a few different skills of their class as only some were viable based on the Set items available.
Diablo 4will see improvement in player choice when it comes to building their character as there will be stat distributions, which the game has shown will have stat requirements for things like Skill effect bonuses. Alsomaking a return are Runes and Runewords fromDiablo 2,adding another layer of intricacy, alongside more importance on some of the lesser rarity items that will have some exclusive affixes, making them useful once again.
Diablo 4will require players to be online to play, which was a folly ofDiablo 3, though with the more open nature ofDiablo 4it seems to make more sense. No matter what, though, it seems that a lot of eyes are on the franchise, but fewer and fewer are onDiablo 3.
Diablo 3is available now for PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
