This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Diablo 3 is a solid 2, and I'm being generous.

Server Stability: -3
-The first week you could not play the game

-In release a week after, the Auction House was not available for use and it still has problems

-In release three weeks into release, the Auction House can't sell plans or trade goods due to the server

-Latency in game play can and will cause you to instantly die in Inferno Act 2+


Skill Tree: 8
-The new skill tree allows you to change skills on the fly and it is very helpful

-You can use skills from the same skill families on your hot bar


Fight Mechanics -2
-The fight mechanics up to and including Inferno Act 1 is an 8, because there really is no one build that you have to run and you can take a hit if you need to be in close doing damage.

-The fight mechanics from Inferno Act 2 and onward is a -10, because if you take 1 or 2 hits you are instantly dead. All classes including Warriors and Monks are forced to Kite, you have no other viable solution, you have to KITE. You are forced to play the game under a very limited and narrow design of skills.

Loot Drop -1
-You don't get loot that is useful to the class you are currently playing. Instead 99% of the time when you do get a useful loot drop, it is good for another class. You have to go to the Auction House and sell it and then use the money to buy the item that should have dropped for you. Most other modern RPG's have set it up where loot that drops is at least geared towards your class, but not Blizzard they know better. In reality, the loot system is set up to force you to use the Real Money Auction House to buy gear. Basically, Diablo 3 is a pay to play Microtransaction based MMO (Asian style). It blows, it blows, it blows.

The game gets a solid 2, and that is all that it deserves.

Lastly, whoever decided to make Diablo at transexual at Blizzard should be fired. I don't want to see a Diablo with **** it is NOT RIGHT. Thanks for pulling a George Lucas and raping what was my favorite RPG franchise.

Buy Torchlight 2 if you want to play a better game.… Expand

I cannot play the game I bought, this is a 0 rated game for me.

Not allowing people to play the game because the servers are down it is just plain stupid.

The company took almost every single thing that made the Diablo Series and removed it from the game.

It is now a hollow shell resembling that which Diablo once was.

I've been playing this game since day one. I accepted the bad launch and plague of problems that followed, thinking it would be worth it in the end. I waited and waited for the patch which made inferno remotely possible for players to enjoy. At every turn I was disappointed. The game lacks the character and ambiance of Diablo 2 and the fact that it was produced by the creators of WoW, not the original Diablo 2 team, really shows. The game is built around the real money auction house. Even the gold auction house is a farce because people can buy gold from Blizzard which in turn bumps up the gold prices to up to unattainable heights. I would not recommend this game to anyone hoping for a continuation of the game play or feel of Diablo 2. The story sucks, the voice acting is bad, characters feel hollow and music is a massive downgrade from it's predecessor. The only way to succeed in the endgame is to purchase your items. Terrible game from a greedy developer - stay away from this one.… Expand

Played for 350 hours, used $100 on RMAH. I can finally farm act 3/4 without many problems except for idiotic elite comps. However, I did not get a SINGLE loot which gives me an upgrade.

Done.

RAZOR, SKIDROW and all the other warez groups, unite and crack this dumb DRM! show Blizzard that we wont take thier **** death to DRM! Ubisoft failed with it, and Blizzard shall fail too!

Until the RMAH is removed this game shall receive a zero. After that I might reconsider changing it to a 8. The game was okay for what it was. However, I still won't play it. The story was crappy and predictable. Oh not to mention all the freaking interruptions in gameplay because of the cut scenes...

1) No preparation. They were not able to handle the pre-orders with their server so that people wasted a day (the first day) and their 60 euros of pre-ordering waiting in front of the desktop like ****
2) The quest is unique (and in my opinion not so long) without any secondary mission just to extend the game.
3) The game is reduced to be a game where people just have to reach high levels without fun.

A game like this isnt worth 60 euros, just saying.… Expand

so the game director is fired... (jay gayson) good news. i laughin so hard to the position they are in. this game born with a malfunction. it is almost dead by now.

where to begin? everything, every decision, every **** step they have made is a mistake about that game. jay "**** diablo killer" wilson got fired and you cant answer his post twice. your answer gets deleted immediately by mods. i mean what the **** it has been said million **** times whats wrong with the game. even now even after rob **** promo said "please make some **** constructive critism" they keep ignore playerbase. drown in your own **** dickheads… Expand

Diablo 1 was probably the first gory game that I have bought and played for a really long time. After years, me playing Diablo would become sort of a gag for people at my dorm (click-click-click...). Then Diablo 2 came around and it was the first time I ever pre-ordered a game. And what a surprise that was. Pixelated, somewhat colorful graphics, no gruesome dying animations and magic items that would drop very rarely and not be as interesting as those in Diablo 1. But... over time and thanks to a couple of patches that fixed the item drop rate, I got to appreciate at least the basic gameplay. Still... not nearly as good as the first one.
And now... Diablo 3. The disaster has been long in the making. For one thing, even less impressive graphics for its time than Diablo 2. Even more stylized. No dying animations at all, just crappy rag doll **** AND the world's most awful DRM: always on.
At least one person here is complaining about people bashing new mainstream games. Well... that's because they suck! Every single one of them that gets very low ratings has screwed up something in at least one major way. I actually find it very disappointing that e.g. that bug-ridden, visually pretty unimpressive Skyrim still got fairly high ratings. It is GOOD when people fight against the **** that is being produced increasingly these days! And you know what people should do instead of only rating it low? Not even buy such pieces of crap! Because with that, you're only encouraging those companies to keep making games that are of sub-par quality.… Expand

Mkay so I'm 100 hours into the game and i dislike it more with every hour played. Its not about difficulty lvl - fresh after getting to 60 i geared up from ah with like 1 mil gold and act 1 was easy mode. First time i did it died maybe few times entire act, had to skip one elite pack that had too nasty skills for my class. Constant connection? Meh, dced few times in total so its not a biggie . But cant imagine playing in hardcore. One dc/lag and you're done... Increased repair bills ? As i said i don't die that much. What i REALLY HATE is how I'm forced to use ah all the time. During leveling if you don't use ah then you will find yourself running in gear thats for 20-30 lvls lower. Good luck with that. As lvl 60 i have ONE item that dropped from monster i killed. Other then that every single piece of equipment came from ah. Is that how games suppose to be played? I don't think so. I don't mind farming, played Korean mmo for almost 3 years ... but i need to know that there's some reward waiting for me in the end. What diablo offers? Ability to sell my gear at rmah once I'm done with it? I don't need to make money out of games, it suppose to be fun not work. If i spent 10 hours in game killing monsters and in the end i don't have even one item i can equip then whats the point. Why as lvl 60 in highest difficulty 80% of my drops are for low lvls? Another 19 has some messed up stats. Maybe 1% is worth selling in ah... Diablo feels to me more like on line market simulator than action RPG. Sure you can play the market, get rich, buy best stuff available in game but ... I rather play something else.… Expand

Huge disappointment. Game is severely lacking on content & story. The amount of item affixes is absolutely pathetic. There are only a handful of useful skills the rest are complete rubbish on inferno difficulty. This was a total money grab on Blizzard's behalf. The addition of the RMAH destroyed this game. Want a upgrade? Look forward to spending 60+ hours farming gold, or spending $250.00 in real life money on digital pixels. Save the $60.00 folks. Blizzard's reputation is permanently blemished after this catastrophe.… Expand

This game review is serious. Serious as is serious the real world. This game may be fantastic or very addictive, it may be beautiful. But all that doesn't matter at all, because this game isn't ethic.

At a very high price (60$) for PC standards, this game ends with the player's freedom. At launch, we met tons of server problems and many players couldn't play at day 1. Even after that, some days servers are still down for "maintenance" and you cannot play the game that you bought legitlly. Not happy with that, Blizzard probably will launch lots of DLC and the total cost of this game may surpass 100$ easily. And the worst thing: the real money auction house. For each transaction, they win a % of the money. With that simple principe, they could win money over the years without any need to do another game or do anything at all. And the worst scenario: some day, they'll close the servers and we'll be unable to play anymore because of the DRM system. With all this facts, Blizzard is calling me stupid, and I'm saying "Yes, I am" just for giving them their 60$. But not anymore, this has to end. Companies like EA, Activision and now Blizzard think they can do whatever they want, that they can steal their users, that money is the only thing that matters. That's way this game deserves a 0. In a normal scenario, proabably I could give it a 7 (because of the step back from Diablo 2 in some ways), but not as it is right now. And remember, my 0 could be unreal, but is just as unreal as all those 10's (no game is perfect).… Expand

People say not to give a game a 0, as clearly only fanboys do this, and their reviews obviously mean nothing. That is a very closed minded way to look at things. Some games do indeed deserve a 0 - Diablo 3 being a perfect example. There is basically nothing that Diablo 3 does that Diablo 2 doesn't do better. Diablo 3 is a perfect example of exactly what a sequel shouldn't be - Toned down gameplay, "b-b-but the graphics are better!!!"

What redeeming qualities could this game possibly have that warrant a score higher than a 0? Could it be the heavily restrictive DRM? Could it be the pay to win BS? I feel like this "game" was bought more by people who are interested in the political / business sides of gaming, and the DRM that would finally be the end of piracy (which obviously isn't even true). It's like they bought it out of some kind of distorted, false interpretation of "morality", rather than to play a game.

Diablo 3 is also a perfect example of why many people feel classic gaming is superior. The idea used to be "This company is providing a game that I am interested in. Therefore, I will buy it so that hopefully they will make more in the future. I like to have fun!" But now the idea of "gaming" is "Wow, this company sure did rape us all in the ass really hard! Now I'm going to go on the internet and accuse anyone who didn't buy it of being self-entitled!"… Expand

Diablo 3 would be an okay game if it had cost half the price or you are a very casual player.

I've put about 40 hours into the game and made it to act 2 inferno (the last difficulty).
The entire game is built around making money for Blizzard from the Auction House (AH). The good items are impossible to come by (hence keeping their value high in the AH). To be able to play inferno you will need to spend money on the AH.

It is nothing near as good as Diablo 2 and you should not waste your time on it.… Expand

I would be playing today instead of writing this crappy review, but I'm locked out of the game all day because of stupid maintenance! If you didn't make us log into your stupid ass servers, Blizzard, we would be able to play the game I paid $60 dollars to rent (since I apparently don't f'ing own it - I would be able to f'ing play any game that I actually own, right dumbasses?). Only PC gamers have to put up this kind of **** I refuse to buy another Blizzard game until Battle.net is optional and yes I buy a lot of games! Do you hear me Blizzard? Game itself 8.5. Having to be held hostage by Blizzards **** servers gets you a 1.0! This is how you lose your fans, Blizzard!… Expand

Bugs and server issues notwithstanding Diablo 3 is in fact a fun gaming experience.

However in reviewing Diablo 3 I must take into account the flaws in Blizzards ability to deliver said gaming experience.

Blizzards requirement to have us always be online is detrimental to the gaming experience as a whole offered up by Diablo 3. Previous Diablo games could be enjoyed solo or with others online and I think that it's reasonable to assume that the third game in the franchise would hold up to that basic tenet of the series.

That is simply not the case.
Multiplayer is fine, I expect outages, I expect connection issues from time to time. This is not an MMO however and the game is designed to be able to be played solo as well, but it is here that the connection issues are not welcome. Lag in any other single player game would be considered a bug so it is is not justifiable in any way here.

Blizzards decision to protect the RMAH at the expense of our gaming experience is reprehensible.

Diablo 3 might be the best game that no one should play.… Expand

Although the game looks very nice, due to the server and technical problems is currently unplayable. I bought the game two weeks after the release and here is what I've got: Day I - it works, nice game; Day II - it works, but there are lags and time jumps (e.g. game moves one second back in time randomly and I have very fast LAN connection to Internet); Day III - server maintenance + client version bug; Day IV - infamous error 37; Day V - Stuck at "Retrieving hero list"; Day VI - Error 300008. So for 6 days I had 1.5 days of working service, what gives 25% service availability :(… Expand

They completely screwed up the loot system to promote the auction house. Inferno's difficulty curve is too steep, yet the loot rewards aren't exciting AT ALL, you just hope you get an item with good rolls, sell it on the auction house to buy stuff on it. And Diablo is all about the loot, it's the reason why we run higher difficulties.

Bought the game a few days after release, really enjoyed normal, nightmare and hell modes. The difficulty scaling felt just right and some of the drops I could use. However, I am now in act 2 of inferno and I am bored stiff. There is no real strategy in this game, the boss fights are not very imaginative and the elite packs are dull. With most elite packs in inferno, you will end up resorting to hit and run tactics for about 10 minutes until you burn down all their HP. For all this effort you will pick up rubbish equipment that is always for another class. I wish the loot tables meant equipment dropped I could actually use. I don't mind using the AH, wont ever be using the RMAH but just now and then it would be nice if I could run a dungeon and find something worth equipping. A side from the boring progression in Inferno and lack of decent loot, I wish there was more randomization to the game dungeons as it is soo boring doing the same quests/dungeons over and over and over!!!!!!!! Blizzard are right to admit that D3 has no end game... it's flawed! If I had my time again I wouldn't spent my money on this game. Hoping Torchlight 2 bring more enjoyment.… Expand

Diablo III wasn't like the previous sequel which made me disappointed - a lot. D3 is much more simpler than D2 which made the game less enjoyable, I bet a huge part of D3 players agreed with me. I smelled a rat that the in-game fun factor was a little interfered with some blizzard's monkey businesses. But I'm sure enough if the game were sold at USD 10 instead of 60 , it would be more worth it.

Started off by having to wait hours before my payment was transferred (kept for hours in queue).
Meanwhile the downloader bugged out on me for some freak reason,getting errors.
After hours of misfortune and eventually got everything running I tried to log-on but kept getting errors like error 37.

This is the worst launch of any game in history.

Worst. Game. Ever. Don't waste your money on this fake Diablo game. At least get something made by the real Diablo crew such as Torchlight II or play something that is similar to Diablo II such as Path of Exile.

The newest piece of garbage shat by blizztivision using the same 2003 engine from WOW, featuring always on DRM, lag and servers offline, and it's extremely cheap at 60 USD.

DRM DRM Absolutely disgusting action from Blizzard, the introduction of DRM shows a complete lack of respect and trust from this company and punishes those who planned to buy the game instead of pirating it. They forget that some people around the world that don't have a constant internet connection available to them. I wont even talk about the in game gold hoarding.

whatever you have to do don't give them your money.

Don't buy this game it only encourages them.… Expand

I can forgive them for messing up the launch. I can forgive them for DRM, but I can't forgive them for making a game that bores me within 30 minutes of playing. Where's the Diablo Magic? It's just bland and repetitive and such a grind. High production values not a game make.

Diablo 3 is Dungeon Siege 3 with an always online DRM. No stat points, just like Dungeon Siege 3 Automatically get every skill instead of opting for customized builds, just like Dungeon Siege 3 Items are the only way to affect stat points, just like Dungeon Siege 3 Health/Mana orbs, just like Dungeon Siege 3 Dungeon Siege 3 was terrible and got boring real quick, Diablo 3 has many of the same inferior mechanics, some aspects that are better, but one aspect that is much much worse. Always online DRM... even play the single player game.

Given these limitations and the overall game length the launch price should have been $30.… Expand

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

D3 is a horrible game. Do not purchase it.

If you get it as a gift, eBay it for half price unopened, then take the money and buy a real game like Endless Space.

I originally gave the game a 3, but now it's getting the lowest score possible. For all the sheep who call themselves game reviewers, I ask a few questions: 1. Should a game with a failed launch get a 100% score? 2. Should a game that can't protect its player's online security get a 100% score? 3. Should a game that is a re-hash of the last two games get a 100% score? 4. Should a game with graphics that look 10 years old get a 100% score?
5. Should a game with SINGLEPLAYER LAG get a 100% score?

At some point, someone needs to start a site that reviews game reviewers, because they are so corrupt and beholden to their Super Seekrit Backstage Passes at industry events that they can no longer give reviews.

If any other company had created this pile of steaming doo, it would not be getting a 90 metacritic. It would be getting a low 70's. Diablo 3 is a perfect expression of everything that is wrong with the gaming press. It's time someone shines a light on it and start embarrassing these sheeple.… Expand

I rated this game as a 6/10 shortly after release because, despite it's flaws, I felt that the game had potential and a part of me really hoped that improvements where in the pipeline, as at the time of release things like overall combat, difficulty, loot and the auction house were clearly defective.

However, after playing the game more than I really wanted to in order to give a fair score, I can honestly say that not only is D3 a bad game, it's... well, it's sort of broken my faith in gaming. It's that much of a disappointment. It's the definitive example of a company taking a franchise that was built with love and care at it's conception, and turning it into a soulless cash cow with a complete disregard to the common gamer.

The scores on Metacritic are by and large NOT trolling. The critic scores, to put it mildly, are an absolute disgrace and a clear example of an attempt to buddy up to Blizzard - a gaming megalith - for future releases.

Let me be clear - I'm a Blizzard fan, I appreciate the quality they have delivered in the past, but you have to judge D3 on it's own merits and not as a fanboy of the company.

I could go into details as to what exactly makes the game poor - such as dumbed down gameplay, mind-numbing repetition, no time spent/reward ratio, an unbearably stupid loot system which renders 99% of everything you pick up utterly useless and a profession system which I can't find a negative enough word for... but it comes down to one very simple conclusion; Diablo 3 is comfortably the most disappointing game ever. But even if you took it as a standalone title and ignored the franchise history it's still one of the worst games of the year with very few redeeming features.

Do yourself a favour - if you have fond memories of Diablo 1 & 2 and you're about to opt for D3, please don't. Keep your memories of the good times safe and sound.

And the major review sites should be ashamed of themselves - actually ashamed - as you're misleading people into parting with hard earned cash for a title that they can't even return or resell when they find out how bad it is. If DRM is part of a title, honest reviews are going to be vital in the future.… Expand

What can I say about Diablo 3? Well, it did a good job gettng me hyped, too bad it doesn't quite live up to it. How could it really? About 10 years in the making, it almost became Duke Nukem Forever, in quite a literal sense too... Too many bad choices by the devs, always online DRM, the dumbed down skill-system and the far to linear levels... Which by the way, aren't that interesting. This game called Diablo 3 just doesn't feel like Diablo, it feels like a chore to play this game. I want to play Diablo 3 by myself, that's what I like to do, so having to log into servers to play singleplayer just feels wrong. The game in itself feels lacking anyway, I can't help to wonder what they've been doing all this time. The only really fun thing about this game is the skills and costumizing them, even though they are quite few compared to Diablo 3. Actually, I can't quite grasp the fact that it's this dumbed down, now town portal scrolls or identify scrolls are needed, just wait a bit. I was actually surprised when I found a piece of armor I had to identify, since I didn't know how I figured I'd learn it later but then I saw the icon, "click to identify", I clicked and after a sec it was identified, I was amazed... What was the point of even having unidentified items to begin with? To make it a surprise what you picked up? I don't know why this game was released this way, new devs mixed in with the fact that it's been touched by Activision? Who knows, but all I know is that it's hard to recommend it even to fans, I'd say those who are most likely to enjoy it is people wanting a gateway into RPG's, but if you want something deeper and more meaningful then just keep looking since even Skyrim has this beat in complexity. I have no choice but to give this the score of 4/10, I'll keep playing it, but I won't feel that good about it... Only good thing about this is the Music and the few Skills there are, if that's enough then go right ahead and buy it. It's more mindless fun than a deep experience, which disappointed me atleast.… Expand

Items are what makes Diablo and the items suck compared to D2, all the cool affixes are gone aka cannot be frozen, % chance to cast so and so,Only Ive seen is chance to cast fear but nothing like chance to cast molten or anything that would be considered remotely enjoyable.
Skill system is nothing nerfs are left and right Legendary are super rare , im on Hell and haven't seen one yet,. On D2 they were rare but in 1 act you would get atleast 1 or 2.
not to mention people are getting hacked left and right
The crafting system is ruined by the auction house since for less money you can get exactly what you want instead of gambling on randoms
In short it just doesn't feel like diablo

btw most of the negative reviews here including mine HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH LAUNCH DAY YOU MORONS! its the gameplay!!… Expand

This game is terrible. It's too cartoonish, it's boring, easy and it's just dumb. You just have to mash your mouse button and you'll be fine. I expected more from it.

Diablo 3 is a lot like StarCraft 2, if you liked the others you will like the new one; but if you we're looking for some new innovative and creative upgrades from the previous games then you will be very disappointed, like me. The background graphics are better than the actual environments you fight in, which are very boring and stale. Building up your character gets boring around level 30 and there are only a few interesting, unrepetitive, enemies throughout the game.

I wish I could trade in my copy now to get as much money back as possible but because of the online connection and serial code required to play this game once you buy it you must keep it. Blizzard really needs to get its butt in gear if it plans to keep its fans because SC2 was a huge disappointment and now they have failed to deliver with Diablo 3. Blizzard, your fans need more than just a stale storyline and upgraded graphics. Try creating more interactive environments, different routes and decisions for quests, open environments, special multiplayer concepts (not just co-op). You (Blizzard) are destroying great series' of games and you not learning or listing to your fans; they want more than just new graphics and a one-way story.… Expand

Blizzard is deleting posts on the diablo 3 forums about refund rights and constructive critisism.
I have never seen such an effort pulled by the community managers to censor the truth about Greedablo 3.
The game itself is shallow, souless, nothing like diablo 1 and 2. I have been a fan Blizzard games since the early days of warcraft 1 and starcraft. I'm afraid there is NOTHING left of the old Blizz team. The true masterminds moved to other companies and only shallowness remains.… Expand

Straight from Wiki "Development on Diablo III began in 2001". That is 12 years of development for that game?? Just looking at what has been taken away from the series is ridiculous. No PVP so far (NO open world PVP period) , No Modes, Maxium 4 player games from the previous 8 players, No Valueable Quest (No Socket or Resistance or Skill or Attribute Quests) No Skill tree or Attribute System, No Channels, Cann't make or Join games like before,No Ladder System. What I've been reading on positive reviews is its a Looting game / Hack&Slash at its finest. OK so why does this game have way less Loot then D2? No Runes (No runewords obviously, So whats the point of white items can anyone tell me that?) No Jewels, Less Gems then before (more upgrades for them thats all), No Charms (Small charms / Large charms / Grand Charms / Annihilus / Torch / Gheeds Fortune), No Ethereal Items, No Orange Item crafting, (No Aura / Spells on hit weapons or armour). How is this a "Looting Game" ,when its missing 50-60% of the items the previous game had? Even after playing the game most of the Legendaries and Sets are useless (Compared to Rares and even Magic Items). So if its not a Looting Game and its not a Customizable Item and Skill / Attribute Game. What is it Straight up Hack and Slash beat on monsters until your bored? That won't be hard, then you'll get 1-2 hit killed until your broke in money and armour (How about that for boring) . I remember how 1 review described this game as a Prettier Dumbed Down Simpler D2. Not even going to touch on the technical issues or Patchs.… Expand

Far too linear, far too easy at earlier difficulties, auction house, silly random loot generation (str/int gear?!), weird loot drops (weird mix of attributes, no sense of progression), oversimplifying the game - limited to only 6 buttons to use while the game offers a great deal of fun, if situational abilities, which you will never use as a result.

The game's story is a joke. Uncharismatic characters, predictable bosses. Do not have an element of suspense as the previous ones. Blizzard promised too much with this game and failed.
The company seemed much more concerned with the auction system than with the game.

I gave D1 and D2 high scores on another site, but this game is hands down the worst Diablo I've played, don't let some of the decent reviews fool ya, if you played D1 or D2 you're gonna most likely hate this game, if you haven't played either you might enjoy it. I am seriously at a lose for words on this game that is how disappointed I am with it.

avarage story and avarage graphics. A way too brief game for it's price. It's not even worth half the money. I mean, i won this so quickly, it felt like a joke to play it. I personally do not recommend the game to anybody, unless you can get it for free. I said to my friend, don't buy this, he tried mine through normal and he couldn't agree more. Blizzard needs to freshen up a bit. It's getting old.… Expand

The game is unplayable. This is remarkable since all Blizzard ever said is they are waiting until it is a completely finished product. If it is a completely finished product, then we can safely review it as it stands now. And as it stand now, it is unplayable and worth of a 0/10.

Sitting at around 60% uptime. Thats a D- where I come from. Graphics are decent but really nothing to write home about these days. This game lost all of it's soul. No character customization .. pay to win RMAH? really? Is it better than 3rd party sites selling stuff? Who cares? it's evil. The only thing they got right was the gore.

A cheap, cash crop from Blizzard. Everything about this game is not as good as it should be and is made with the pure intent of making money, and not delivering a quality game. You buy items with real money, and can sell items for real money, but with a "Transaction Fee" where blizzard makes more money...

gonna have to come back for a new review here; normal through hell are a fairly pleasant gaming experience; it wont last very long and its only fun your first time through. but the heart of the game; where all the loot tables are best; where 90% of all items are located; inferno mode. its a mess. designed around needing gear you could never ever ever hope to possibly get in less than 10000 hours played. itemization is **** for a game that is all about the loot.

every single part of the "end-game" is directed to try and get you to use the RMAH; the game has no offline mode and the always online is frequently down and always laggy.… Expand

DRM was a horrible horrible decision to make. Seems Activision finally got their tainted and dirty hands around the hearts of Blizzard employees, starting with that real money auction house. Launch day was a disaster, completely and utterly. Servers down constantly or you can't log in at all. DRM requires that you be logged in and online to be able to play the single player version.....wait unti it goes on sale.… Expand

It has been a day and the game at no point has been playable. This is totally unacceptable. I played the beta and it was decent, but having to depend on the random nature of the servers to actually play the thing is intolerable.

The gameplay itself is wonderful, and I very much enjoyed it. But, what good is it if you paid and are unable to play. We've taken a day off from work and have been unable to play for ~4 hours of it due to server downtime. With the 10 years Blizzard has had to develop the game and prepare for launch, the amount of server downtime should have been minimal to none. While something like this might be expected from a cheap, knock-off South Korean game and company, Blizzard is held (as they should be) to a much higher standard when it comes to game stability, balance, etc.

The ability to deliver a stable game on day one is disappointing. The countless hours of work the devs and artists put into this game are going to be diminished somewhat by the quality of their launch. Sorry, Blizzard.… Expand

I definitely was looking forward to this game. However, even based on the fact this game was hotly anticipated as the next greatest thing to move the franchise forward, it feels much more like a step backward. Firstly. I need to get this off of my chest, than I'll get into the actual review: Digital Rights Management is flat out inexcusable this day and age for single player games. I was tolerant of when Blizzard decided to install DRM into Starcraft II when it was released, mostly because it is a multiplayer game where lies the heart of the game. Diablo III is NOT required to be played in multiplayer to enjoy this game. I refuse to support a positive review on this point alone. Now on to the actual review:

- Art style is very reminiscent of "World of Warcraft", very cartoony and animated; For a game such as Diablo III where it is 'supposed' to be grim, dark, and scary, it is neither of these things. I suppose the development team wanted to make it 'accessible' to woo the casual gamers, this come at the cost of the overall mood and I just don't buy into it and the quite figuratively pulls all of the emotional impact it has on the overall gamer, I don't feel sucked into the game. - The music in this game is fantastic, and hits the ball out of the park this time. I couldn't help but feel that this is the production quality even higher than what would be found in big budget movies and the 'canned' movie scores, reminiscent of the Avengers movie that was released. Well done, music producers!

- The skill tree based system is well thought out and complex, especially once you get into the advanced ratings. It is a departure of the old 'Diablo I and II' skill management system, and a welcome change. However, for those hoping for 'more of the same', will be disappointed.

- Gameplay is boring and repetitive, even playing with friends is boring. Was hoping for more synergy between classes when playing multiplayer, but alas there is none. Absolutely no synergy. Looks like you're on the own on this one, even when playing with friends. - Lastly, there is no excuse for having defects on the production day, and shutting down the login servers so users can play the game they paid for. DRM is a travesty, and really for a game like this, which has been under development for quite literally 4+ years, it should be shipped bug free. Now we can't even play the game because their servers are down (thanks, DRM) , even when they've had adequate time to beta test, adequate time to stress test, and adequate time to design the application. I am disappointed in the execution of this game and I don't think I will be investing much time in it in the future, will be spending much more time playing Guild Wars 2 and Torchlight 2 when they come out. This game will tide me over until than.… Expand

Diablo 2 with updated graphics, a real money auction house and DRM that prevents people from playing equals one bad game. It's a shame what's happened to Blizzard. Terrible, stay away from this one.

Probably one of the biggest let downs of the year, When I purchased D3 I was expecting the epic conclusion t0 D2 one of my favorite games of all time. What I got instead was an insane amount of lag and game play that feels about ten years dated. I seriously hope you guys don't consider buying this game.

Negatives: online DRM and online singleplayer, cartoon graphics and wow style graphics(its like a wow mod), nothing new in gameplay and high price; only positive thing is sounds and musics are from diablo 1-2.

its a big disappointment, i was expecting something different.

Purchased. Unable to play. For a game I mostly play solo... Unacceptable.
A team of hundreds of video game's veteran, a budget of hundreds of millions dollars, a name worth a billion : how have you managed to screw this brand that much ? Please, Blizzard. Leave Vivendi-Universal, they hurted you badly.

After 4 hours in a 24 hour span of nothing but error messages I finally was able to play Diablo III for about six hours. The game is nothing like what I had hoped. Every character of the same class is identical, except for equipment. There's no deviation in skills/abilities because their unlock is not strategically chosen by the player but unlocked based on level achieved. There are no stat points to spend to customize your ascension, there are no talents you can choose from a tree - it's just a skill choice + a rune choice for your attack, and every single player has the exact same options available to choose from, all of the time.

The AI has been very buggy, with my followers just standing around watching as I fight. They sometimes just get stuck, unsure of how to reach me when standing just 10' away up a flight of stairs. There is no path finding to speak of - if I click on a point on the screen to move to, and there isn't a beeline path to reach it my character does nothing. Several times my character has lagged and jumped around on screen, and not due to the use of an ability.

I hear the story is remarkably short compared to the previous Diablo games. So far the cinematics have been good (but HEAVILY compressed, and very messy with a lot of blocking/blurring during high-movement scenes, which seem common) and the in-game graphics look like you're playing World of Warcraft with a slightly different camera angle. The UI is improved from Diablo II, so Blizzard can tout that benefit from their mandate that all players remain connected to BattleNet ALL of the time. However, that could have been done without the draconic DRM that disconnects you the second your internet connection flakes out. I have yet to try the Auction House feature.

I intend to keep playing, to see the game through to the end but so far Diablo III is a real letdown as a followup to Diablo II and Diablo II: LoD.… Expand

Disappointing sequel to an otherwise excellent franchise. I waited in line for 4 hours to pickup my CE copy for $115. The packaging is excellent and the art book is beautiful. The additional "behind the scenes" footage is also well put together and enjoyable to watch. The game itself however is far from being a game of any kind. Vast majority of my game time was spent staring at the same screen as the bugs and problems with the game make it impossible to proceed beyond the initial login screen. If you are lucky enough to make it into the game you are quickly booted out and taken back to the login screen. I'm not sure how this game made it past quality assurance but this game is anything but a game. If you are looking for a login screen simulator this is an excellent choice; if you are looking for the sequel to the diablo series you have come to the wrong place. If you are really interested in a login screen simulator; I can save you $100. Hit the Windows logo key and the L key on your keyboard for a totally free login screen simulator that comes included with your copy of Windows. If you have any doubts about my review; please read the rest of the reviews. Blizzard has a few of its people posting positive reviews to trick people into buying the game, because they do not give refunds, but hopefully the gaming audience is smart enough to avoid that.… Expand

alright, enough is enough. If you are going to release a game online only, make sure u know what u are doing. If you are unsure, then release an offline mode that syncs with servers every so often with online as the main. But this is rediculous

Anyone who gave this game a 10 should get a psych eval... either that or the standards for games have fallen that low. There's absolutely no appeal in a dumbed-down D2 with slightly better graphics, a bulky RMAH, and online DRM that prohibits true single player. Simply said, Activision + Blizzard = Fail.

Gameplay: 2/10
Extremely dumbed down, what exactly were the devs thinking when they decided to nix the skill tree in favor of some atrocious "customizable" rune system? It's hard to **** up an already perfected game genre (especially when Blizzard originally set the standard of dungeon-crawlers) but this game has actually done so. Wait it doesn't end there... Blizzard essentially signed a death warrant for its own game from Day 0. Introducing a Real Money Auction House has destroyed many RPGs whether MMOs or Single player (take a look at why Korean RPGs never really went international until recently). RMAH's destroy in-game economics and replay value so why introduce it at all? To snag up all the sales that the 3rd parties were getting in D2?

One of the greatest characteristics of D2 was to create a personal "build" for a class e.g. Rabies Druid. With D3, the makers of the game took away a very important facet of the franchise and this alone should hint at its unworthiness as a title in the Diablo series.

Graphics: 1/10
Really now? Might as well have copied "Fate"'s cartoonish style. Maybe the consumers might've been more forgiving...

Sound: 6/10
Great music as always, decent voice acting. Not the best but passable.

Controls: 3/10
D3 attempt to carry on the Diablo series' tradition of 2-mouse button-oriented control playstyle is a bit nostalgic. But what happened to the innovation and ingenuity of the old Blizzard?

Story: 1/10
Gone are the epic stories that once defined all Blizzard games. Throw together some half-*** bull**** set in the same environment as the other two games in the series, slap a Diablo logo on the game, and voila there you have it, the latest Diablo sequel.

Misc.: Only redeeming quality would be that it is still pretty addictive to play but I would attribute that to the type of game it is.… Expand

Shocking and disappointing. If you can get over the fact you have to pay above average for the game and that you can buy in game money for real world money there are still major problems. Before I get to that I still want to say that this game is nothing more then an obvious money sink now rather then a true attempt to carry on what may loved about D2. Its my love the last game that made me give this a go and put aside the unpleasantness surrounding the game. I should have known better. Things have been stripped apart like customisation and how can you not have an offline mode?! Oh right, need to make money as mentioned. All other game companies while obvious like EA, at least rationalised things like pre-release DLC. What Blizzard have done to Diablo 3 make them look like good guys!!! Wow cant believe I can say that. As for gameplay, well since the servers have collapsed things arnt going great there either. Yet another blunder on a list longer then my arm. To be fair the games started off quite good, but there are so many things missing and already Im seeing fast tracked explanations and associations. I think I may grow to eventually like the game, but I cannot justify Blizzard antics, this has become a circus. Thus my zero. Sorry Blizzard. You become a monster of your own success. Its apparent its about the money and not the game and so you have forever lost a customer going forward… Expand

A step backwards for the entire gaming industry.
Rather than give players a full game experience, Blizzard-Activision decided to pull offline mode and LAN mode from the game.
The game series just isn't the same without it.
Because Blizzard was afraid of pirates, the people who actually have paid for the game now have to suffer the consequences.
Infact, pirates have already made the game public for download and have an offline mode.
The pirates have actually improved the game and given people a reason to pirate rather than purchasing.
Do not buy the game, do not buy it's DLC, and do not talk about it. This is how you make the game die and send a message to the developers.… Expand

The game itself is probably an 8/10, but the DRM sinks it straight down to a negative score. Unfortunately, I can't give it a negative score, so I have to go with 0 for now. DRM is the hemorrhage of the gaming industry, and it's time developers actually listen to their customers.

More and More Server Disconnection. 3 times in 10 minutes. Give us a break, Give us a single player without constant internet connection!! I am a fan of Diablo, however, this has become a pain. Yes. Understand it is Friday evening, but I want to play single player mode anytime, anywhere. The constant network disconnection took the fun out of it. We paid for the game, not paid for the disconnection and disruption of the game flow.… Expand

if you want my review of the game look at koroshiya_ichi review. Gone are the days when blizzard was a gamers company. Now blizzard is just about herding as many casual gamers as possible to play there games. Even if it means abandoning the hardcore gamers that built blizzard to start with. They will not get another penny of my hard earned money.

Why should I have to be online to play the game in single player? Why should I have to accept downtime for server maintenance for a single player game? If always online DRM is the future of games count me out, epic fail!

Too many bad things, DRM, graphics, voices, history, gameplay, character customization, wow styled, no rol like diablo series.... hell, 10 years wasted. oh wait, in 10 years they just care about WoW, this game wasnt even developed by serious people. its just a joke.

This would have been an ok game if it was not called diablo, thereby falsly attricting a huge d2 fanbase which is now extremely dissapointed. I honestly believe this game scores a 1/10 compared to diablo 2, All the things that made diablo 2 fun are left out of diablo 3. A fine game dumbed down for the masses and became totally uninteresting and unrewarding. Your character "build" consist of two things: your damage and your health. Damage comes from your primary attribute and weapon dps, and health comes from vitality. How is that even considered an rpg, every damn shooter is based on the same stats, health and damage : (… Expand

Junk,back to diablo 2 .this game is for my kids who have 4 years old.to bad i'd hope to return some old memories like diablo 2 did but this one is, sorry ''crap''i tried to like this game but i just can't.the era when a game is focus on the player and not on the players money is gone.sad man very sad.they taken all.to bad that so many people hat bot it. 0 its a very big note for me anyway.

1) the server maintenance is getting very very annoying, offline frequently, seriously avoid this game if you have no patience.
2) the map isn't as random as D2, only the breakables and chests are randomly placed.
3) the game requires you to play to higher difficulties to fully unlock the features. meaning if you want to upgrade to the highest level / craft the ultimate jewel, you have to be in hell mode or inferno mode......… Expand

I waited years for this? It is simply not as good as I thought and a lot of people told me, the graphics should be way better, the "roleplaying" is simple, short and boeing. In the end it is named Diablo but it looks like World of Warcraft and plays like an 5-year old free to play game. After being a big fan of Diablo and Diablo II this is very disappointing, also you have to be logged onto the Internet (RDM) even if u are just playing single player... what cheek! This is just an awful rip-off!… Expand

This game is so utterly bad, that even writing this is more than it deserves. There is nothing fun about it except the first few-dozen hours of initial gameplay, it has no depth, it has no quality script, it has nothing original, it's in fact regression in every aspect. This game would never have sold if it wasn't signed Blizzard and it pains me so many of us buy something like this, expecting something good from a supposedly good company only to be served STUPIDLY expensive (80+ dollars at some time!!!!) CRAP. I am not going to buy Blizzard game ever again, I'm done with this company. They used to make good games, now it seems they just cash-in on their established brand. Like every **** business these days.… Expand

Disappointment
This pretty much sums the entire game.. and big. .fat.. disappointment.
If you played D1 or D2 or both and are expecting the same experience....dont bother.
After reading the reviews (witch I have to agree 100% with) I find myself surprised that no one has mentioned the HORRIBLE loot system this game has... I mean.. DEAR GOD! One of the things that made D2 "fun" to play was the loot, but in this game is just crap.. Maybe Im too used to WoW's format..blues are better than white...yellow (in this case is better than blue) and orange (witch are legendary items are far better than any other color) well.. this is not the case.. you can find a legendary or a yellow and 20 min later find a blue item witch is a lot better than both, at the same lvl requirement .... what?
Another observation....I found me a really nice "Wizard" hat.... and by wizard I mean "only a wizard can equip" .. with dexterity and strenght for stats... again.. .what? The random factor on item's stats is absurd!
Last but not least.. loot rewards.. you can get a yellow out of a damned barrel! or random champion packs, but when you kill a boss.. when you kill DIABLO..THE LAST BOSS IN THE GAME.. he drops 1 or 2 blues..it feels so .. unrewarding.… Expand

1) Online DRM: Worst idea in the history of gaming. 2) Constant single Player lag, disconnections, and Server down time. 3) Story line is very sub par considering it took 11 years to come up with. 4) Graphics are average. 5) Terrible Skill system, offers very little configuration options. 6) Completely Linear Story line, makes replayability no fun at all. 7) Blizzard Diablo Forums very poorly supported as to complaints, questions, and concerns. Blue responses are late, arrogant, and biased.… Expand

I'm just going to keep this short and sweet. Being kicked out of playing a SINGLE PLAYER game is a joke! I paused the game to keep up and grab a drink and something to eat, came back to my computer to see an error message saying I was kicked out of the game and honestly was shocked. My single player game that I was playing by myself was cancelled (so I had to re clear a massive area as it only loads you to the last checkpoint) and additionally the servers go down. In fact I think the server's go down weekly now (which I never knew about).

Sadly the only people enjoying this game to it's full potential are the pirates as they have no server downtime and they aren't kicked from their single player experience. Activision (I refuse to call them Blizzard as that company is long since dead now) have really screwed up with this.… Expand

Accounts getting hacked left and right like mine. Server issues still after a week or so of launch. Release day was terrible...and for a company who can support MMO launches without a hitch...no excuse for not letting me playing single player.

This is a Free to Play MMO that you have to buy. It even will have an item mall. Try everything you hate about MMOs and none of the stuff you like. In a single player game. And god help you if you log into public games. Hacking is unbelievably common. people logging in and stealing your stuff. Fortunately Blizzard will happily sell you an authenticator for six bucks. Do not buy this game. Or, if you must, first search for "5 Creepy Ways video games are trying to get you hooked", an article from cracked. Read that and understand that this is all diablo is about. Addictive treadmilling. You have no significant customization options, no significant means to influence your characters build (No Knife and dagger Demon Hunters... not if you don't want to die every encounter). At best you get dualwield, sword and board, or two hander... and even the differences between these two are negligible. What I'm trying to say here is that the play is extremely shallow. It lacks any kind of depth and if you've followed the diablo mythology for any length of time you'll pretty much know exactly how it'll end about ten, maybe fifteen minutes in. This is not an exaggeration. I figured it out roughly that quickly. However, if you're dumber than a box of hammers you'll get to learn the exact same thing I figured out about 20 hours later when you've completed the game. All that's left is higher difficulty. Mind you, higher difficulty doesn't really unlock any significant new options (you have character progression til sixty but you'll beat the game on normal around 30)... The critics were either bought and paid for or too terrified of knocking blizzards new MMO. I cannot stress this enough. This game is an enormous con job the likes to which, in roughly 20 years+ of gaming) I've never seen before.… Expand

The game is fun but it's nothing groundbreaking. If you played Diablo 2 (D2) then you've played this game. The only improvement in my eyes is that you now pick up gold by walking over it instead of having to click on every single pile. The addition of forcing you to have a constant connection to the servers is annoying and should never have been implemented. I was never one to play D2 online and I only ever played with friends when we were on a LAN so forcing me to connect to Blizzard servers is extremely annoying. They have issues, have maintenance, or any other issues and all of a sudden I can't play a game I paid for. I honestly think that D2 is a better game solely because I can play it without an internet connection.… Expand

If you enjoyed previous installments of this series, you will not enjoy this one.

Terrible story.
Terrible loot.
Terrible time investment to loot ratio.
Frequent patches to prevent anyone from playing the game other than the way they want you to.
No variety of builds in end game.

I am sorely disappointed in the game. First off the only online DRM makes it cumbersome to play, and weekly maintenance? I feel like I am playing an MMO. The graphics are a step up from D2, but are reminiscent of 2004-2006, and do not evoke any nostalgia from the earlier titles in the series - hell, there is no light radius! That was a great feature in the original games. The story is quite bland, and even the characters that follow you throughout the game do not grow on you; however, I do enjoy the retorts of the companions and their interactions with the player. Those characters are much more fleshed out that even... wow, I actually forgot the name of the girl who is the centerpoint of the story! Aha! Leah, wow. I was going to just sit and think for a bit and keep typing her name, but the fact that I am an avid roleplayer (both paper and pencil and classic RPGs) and I could not remember a leading NPCs name says something to the quality of the storyline.

The constant patching and downtime is expected in the early weeks of a new game, but this was not meant to be an MMO, but rather, staying true to its predecessors, a single player game with LAN or battle.net connectivity. So if I do not play online I cannot use the Auction House? I don't care. I would gladly make a character on battle.net and play online with support and have my offline skirmisher for when I had 30 mins or so to kill. D2 even had the open battle.net option where I could bring my offline character online and search for other players. On gameplay, I can understand removing the town portal and auto-identifying items to make the game more fast paced, and the new skill system has its merits, but I feel that one thing is to streamline the playthrough, and another thing entirely is to simplify it down to the point that it loses all appeal other than left click kill, left click loot, left click move. Inventory management, skill or talent choices, visual character customization!!!!, to name a few examples are part of action-RPGs. The devil is in the details, and I would say that this proverb is even more true in a game titled Diablo. There is something severely missing in Diablo 3, I have come to the realization that I have been able to play for this long because I have been grouping with the same two friends to progress together, but honestly I have rarely played solo much - the first act I did alone and enjoyed it greatly I will admit. I believe that this act is the most faithful to the franchise - if they added darker lighting effects and a fog of war or light radius if would truly be creepy and Diablo-esque. However, the random idiot yellow robed cultists and the purple flying faerie that COMPLETELY deter my immersion into the game, please make them black robed even if it's generic and have the purple faerie witch be less flamboyant - and without WINGS!!! arg!!!

To summarize, this game seems to have lost its direction and is not worthy to be named a continuation of the Diablo legacy. I hope that Blizzard sees this and reviews its decisions with this game for future endeavors. I have no hopes for any significant changes in a game that is free-to-play, sadly -- Blizzard already got my $60 and well I guess that price for a few weeks of gaming isn't so bad -- there is no monthly subscription (thank God) which is the biggest incentive in online games to make changes. Play the demo (they should have a 3-day pass offer still) before you decide to invest in this game. Hopefully you will get to Act 2 and see how far it diverges from the spirit of the series.… Expand

"Diablo 1.5"
This game has nicer graphics than Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. It has a shared stash and some nifty little features like that. Other than that most of what players care about have been cut out of the game or reduced down to almost a child-level of simplicity.
Compared to Diablo II: LOD, there are:
Less users per game, less items, less heroes, less customization, less secret levels, less hero levels, less workable builds, less item affixes, less item types, no runewords, no jewels, no stats on heroes, no charms, no custom room names, etc. The list is extensive and I recommend dropping by the official forms: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/3354739/ and asking there if you should buy the game or not, BEFORE YOU BUY IT. You have been warned!… Expand

Game was essentially ruined by the real money auction house due to bots automatically buying all the good items on the gold auction house and relisting them for ridiculously high prices. Players are left asking themselves whether to bother competing with bots on the AH, or to instead spend hours grinding for gold in order to upgrade their gear.

As others have said, launch day server failures are an embarrassing but enlightening example of exactly how bad DRM is for gamers. Add that to boring, casualized gameplay and you have a shining (or should I say reeking) example of the state of the gaming industry today.

Graphics are an absolute shamble. Truly terrible game. Would not buy, pirate or even try.

Please avoid this like the plague. I seriously hope you guys don't touch this game.

--> No offline single player
--> No LAN play
--> No mod support
--> Pay for power auction house
--> Can't login because Blizzard allocated a woefully inadequate number of servers for launch

Don't support this trash, wait for Torchlight 2.

To those attempting to defend this game for servers not being available at launch: shut your mouth. This game is a title that requires a persistent online connection to play the single-player game. It would be one thing if it was a single-player game that's multiplayer aspect was rocky on launch day but you CANNOT PLAY THE GAME AT ALL thanks to the DRM. That is unacceptable. There is no excuse and no way anyone can defend this. I am attempting to get a refund from Amazon as we speak because frankly this product does not function, I cannot play the game thanks to the server error and from what I'm hearing about the lack of skill-trees and no customization I doubt I would even want to.… Expand

I expected more after so long in development. With maxed out graphics @ 1920x1080 this game still looks kinda old and ugly in my opinion. Graphics are from 2007-2008 or so I'd say. It's moderately entertaining for a while although honestly I'm tiring of it already after 1 day. It might have gotten 5/10 instead of 4/10 but the price is too high. Also, I haven't taken into consideration the login problems alot of people have or it would have been 2/10. So don't believe the hype about D3, it's an ok game nothing more (except for grapics wich suck). If you consider getting it atleast wait until the price drops and they've fixed the problems so you can actually log in and play.… Expand

Nothing but an over priced copy of Torchlight but with less freedom to create your character as you desire. Save yourself $40 USD and get Torchlight 2 . All in all this is a buyer beware product and I am ashamed to admit I spent money on this game.

Overall the game does not meet up the standards in Graphics of today games, the story is kinda good and the gameplay is repetitive and boring, somewhat of a dissapointment.

I'm not sure who at Blizz/Activision thought it was a good idea *cough* Bobby Kotick *cough*, but loot is the reason for this game! It's not a lie or point of opinion, if you played as much D2 or Diablo 2 knock offs as me you know that's the drive, hell back when D3 was first previewing Blizzard at the time said so themselves ( I also got to play the game back then it was WAAY better and way more hectic). So adding a real money auction house is just nonsense, for any other game it'd be like buying the end of the game, or being able to pay money to get a max lv character in WoW.… Expand

Within 20 hours of trying to start this game I didn't manage to. I saw D3 on my friend's pc and it was... poor. Very easy, faded/blury graphics, automatic skills (are we 5 yo?), average music. D2 is sooo much better (personally, for me D1 is the best). I waited in the line for 5h during the night to get this game. For 20h I try to run it (errors 37 and 75). Sorry Blizzard, you failed. Rate: 0.

This game is nothing compared to Diablo 1 and 2, Just a big disappointment. THE STORY IS TERRIBLE OMG WHY DID I BUY THIS WHILE SO MANY GOOD TITLES ARE COMING OUT THIS YEAR?

I have been one of Blizzard's longest and most stupidly loyal fans. I have bought and played every game they've released with the exception of Warcraft I, and never for anything less than a matter of months. But if they could see how poorly Diablo III is actually functioning on my end, I'm certain they would be professionally embarrassed.

With anything less than an ironclad connection, the performance of the game is simply appalling. I played Everquest on a 56k connection in the late 90's, and only the rarest of the worst lagspikes would cause issues like I'm seeing with Diablo III. And unlike that case, I don't mean occasionally: the BEST performance comes with about 3-5 seconds of delay between input and output for ANY action, enemies ghost about half the distance of the screen for every movement, I'm rubberbanded all over the place to the point where my only character deaths have occurred several screens over from what was hitting me, I could go on.

The merits of online-only DRM are one thing; I can honestly, without an ounce of anger or rose-colored nostalgia, say I've never seen any online game function so horribly in my entire gaming history, going as far back as Windows 3.1 and AOL when I was just a kid playing on my parents' dime and phone time. I've never before considered getting a refund from a game, and the fact that I'm considering doing so from a Blizzard title is a bigger disappointment than I can come up with a clever analogy for. I didn't even want my money back for the Star Wars prequels, and I felt physically nauseous from shame as I witnessed those animated first-draft fridge-magnet-quality disasters unfold.

In all fairness, I'm going to give this game two weeks to see if these problems get sorted out. But as bad as it is, I'm seriously wondering if this is a deliberate attempt on Activision's part to kill the brand name. I want to enjoy this game, I really do. But I can't as long as it doesn't actually work. And that's what kills me: up until now, the Blizzard name meant that they took as long as they needed to to release a finished product: and now (undoubtedly due to executive meddling) they've tossed out something that doesn't even work. Flaws I can overlook, (the only other company I'm a bigger unapologetic fanboy for is Bugthesda) but the game has to at least be playable. This... this is simply, unarguably, downright broken.… Expand

Graphics: Disappointing, I was expecting something better. The cartoony look does not justify the sub-par graphics. Storyline: Boring, boring, boring Character creation: zero customization, all same-class characters will be exactly alike Biggest gripe: Can not play single player without server support (then is it really single player?). Blizzard took DRM to a level that screws over customers. With such a large revenue from pre-orders you'd think Blizzard would do more to ensure a a launch where players could at least play by themselves.… Expand

OH AND I WISH I COULD STAY ON LONG ENOUGH TO PLAY THE GAME I JUST BOUGHT BUT I KEEP GETTING ERRORS AND GETTING KICKED OFF. ERROR 0340490599090393 IM TIRED OF IT. SERIOUSLY BLIZZARD YOU NEED TO MERGE WITH STUDIO 38 AND HELP CURT SCHILLING AND R.A. SALVATORE MAKE A GOOD QUALITY GAME BC WITH THE ORIGINAL GANGSTERS OF BLIZZARD GONE, YOU GUYS ARE TALENTLESS NOBODY NERDS AND NEED TO KILL YOURSELF. DIABLO 2 GRAPHICS HONESTLY ALMOST LOOK BETTER THAN D3... THERE IS MORE FLUIDITY TO THEM... ITS RIDICULOUS but yeah thats what i have to say… Expand

No connection = No Game

This is a single player game.

DRM epic fail.

Don't waste your money on this joke. Don't let the fanboy's sway you with the 10's they are putting up for a game that they themselves can't login to...lol...login to a single player game. Silly Blizzard.

i actually got in for about 20 min before servers went to hell.not bad but not great.average at best.there is no excuse for the game not being playable considering the amount of time it toolk to get released.the irony is that people giving this game a 10 and calling the rest of us trolls for being pist at the lack of polish for a game thats been in development for 12yrs are in fact trolls themselves.60$ in this economy is alot for pc game,shame on you blizzard for treating your fans with such little regard. :(… Expand

It's just a horrible game. I will leave my opinion of DRM out of the rating system, since even if the system is horrible, the industry has to do what it can.

This "game" is nothing but a dumbed down click adventure. Hold down left click, win everything up to Hell mode. Do not buy this game until it is around $9. It's worth maybe $4. I was not a die-hard fan of Diablo 2, but I do have slightly fond memories. There was no lost nostalgia here, this just felt like someone's school project submitted under a major label.

The story was lazy, the combat boring, and the music repetitive. I enjoyed the voices, but that wasn't much of a comfort. Honestly, if you have to go through the full game and change a mode to "see the real thing" as I was challenged to do, the product has already failed.

Gave it a chance, Diablo 3 simply does not deliver.… Expand

MY REVIEW: I will review what I have been able to play today "Nothing" which translated into numbers is 0 (zero) so there you go. The servers may have been up and down but I don't have all day to try to figure out when the servers are up so I can play. When I am ready to play they need to be ready to play or else don't make it online always game. I'm online, Blizzard is not, not my fault.

The irony of having someone state that your opinion shouldn't count but theirs does is remarkable. Anyways I know the server problems are temporary but they already have my cash so... yeah... I paid for a service I'm not receiving. I know the EULA covers Blizzard greedy and incompetent butt, however as a true consumer and believer in capitalism (The part that allows me to fight a company for bad service not the part that protects the company just because they have something saying bad things might happen and you cant sue us for it) I want to say Blizzard you are dead to me. I will play this game but no more money will be going your way. I weep at the fact that the only industry I ever truly wanted to be a part of has become so bloated with consumers ready to bend over and take whatever the company gives them astounds me. While a lot of others write "What did you expect" I answer "I expected what I have expected since the day I bought my first NES game... To go home put it in and enjoy myself." Times may change, technology sure has. But when I put down my hard earned money on the table, the only time I expect to lose it and not be able to play is at the casino. I don't like gambling on my games on whether they work or not.… Expand

This game is great but it misses the little something Diablo 2 had. no customization (skill pts), no rune words (so far), and everything was nerfed. It feels like WoW but with gore. Graphics are ok but not awesome, they look like 5 years old. The game play is pretty easy to get. I think the weakest point of this game is the multiplayer : Random games... Seriously? This is Diablo III, not CoD! Bring me back my server creation system! Somethimes I want to Trade my stuff, not absolutely sell it to the AH! This is a Beat em' all, not a MMO. And the AH thing is a terrible idea. Do you know how many koreans are gonna control this market. Guys, let us create custom games with custom names, let us trade freely. You can let the AH but please, I want to be able to create a game like in D2. Enigma4Fort, you know?… Expand

Unbelievably bad first of all I was a little angry that people who had original copies of Diablo 1, 2, and the expansion were unable to play the beta. After purchasing this game and only being able to play for about 30 minutes before getting kicked off I was already somewhat disappointed in nearly every aspect. There is no grinding as well as not being able to add points to skill trees and to strength, dex, vit, energy. I was more let down by this game than any game I've ever purchased.… Expand

Even without the server issues (which I did not experience)... the game was just bland, boring, and certainly not the diablo I've grown to know and love