Pathetic. This shouldn't even be a game. The customization of online play that i loved in battle.net is missing in this game and the sad thing this game is 100% online. So you have bad match making and room creation with friends. Collecting loot is pointless just go for the high level items and gold drops anything else just ignore. Since all drops from mobs rarely go over 5 gold including semi rare stuff like gems sell for 3 gold. When a potion costs you 100+gold So you need to collect several inventories full just to buy 1 potion. Wasting about 5 potions doing so. The bosses feel unoriginal and less unique than older games and unique monsters feel less than thrilling to find. Shrines feel USELESS. The only thing going for this game is a beautiful art style. I liked the old story line in D2 where you unlocked a different story where you get to see what happened and how it happened. While in D3 the cut scenes are just cut scenes of the story you just went through almost like a recap. This is very much pay to win game who ever invests the most money will have the best gear and not really a game of skill..… Expand

I find that somehow game developers recently have lost sight of how to continue a successful franchise and it seems to be happening during the third iteration. Diablo 3 along with Fable 3 and Dungeon Siege 3 have taken what were excellent examples of adventure/action/rpg games and turned them into something else. I was honestly going to skip this game but my wife picked it up for me as a gift. After staring at the box for about half an hour I finally decided to install it. Upon installing the game I was greeted with a slew of errors while attempting to log in and finally gave up late in the evening on launch day. I went to bed feeling as though I should have went with my gut reaction and returned the game. I was especially annoyed at the utter lack of offline play modes. Regardless of Blizzard's reasoning behind this decision, it was a poor decision at best. This might seem like a viable idea, but I live in an area where broadband internet may or may not be available depending on where you live. Anyone who lives in a rural area, especially in mountainous areas will literally be unable to play. If I were to visit my relatives, I wouldn't be able to play due to the fact that they can really only get dial-up connections and even cell services are spotty.

The day after the theoretical launch day, I was finally able to play after work. I immediately felt underwhelmed by the graphics and feel of game play. The character movement and battle feels stiff and unexciting and the UI feels sub-optimal. I immediately noticed the lack of zoom capability with mouse wheel (admittedly nit-picky but this is really design heuristics 101), although there is a zoom button ('z') which zooms you all the way in or out. I haven't played it long enough to be certain, but it seems like a lot of the character customization appears to have been changed and or removed leaving the level profession feeling lackluster.

The lesson learned here is when dealing with sequels (or Blizzard) wait until the reviews come in or find a used copy in the bargain bin. Gameplay: mediocre
Graphics: mediocre
Online Requirement: dismal… Expand

very dissapointed blizzard. i was once a very loyal fan of you. but ever since starcraft 2 there has been a missing spark about your games. starcraft 2 had poor voice acting, poor story and the characters seem hollow and empty. diablo 3 on the otherhand felt more like a WoW title with the diablo 3 brand superglued to it. the lack of gothic feel, the cartoony character models, lack of stat point allocation and set unlocks of skills combined with the linear progression is highly dissapointing. i guess this is what you get when blizzard north go packing.… Expand

Myself and my wife paid a total of $120 for this game and have been able to play once thus far for about 45min until they took the server down right before we got to the boss. Don't waste your $

Because I live and bought the game in Korea, I can't switch language and have to play in Korean. Awesome. http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/05/when-diablo-iii-doesnt-speak-your-language/

2/10 is all I an do for this game.
I can't even get a refund for it. All I wanted was an action role playing game that I could enjoy for a few gaming sessions.
And what happened? First, I was in a QUEUE. Yes, the servers where full and I couldn't play the game. Not even in single player.
After HOURS of waiting, I finally got to play the game. The first thing I noticed was some kind of strange blur filter, which made the graphics blurry all the time. I looked for a fix online, because you couldn't turn it of in the options. The only thing I found was a graphic mod, but Blizzard said you would get banned if they catch you using it.
So, I had the choice of playing the game with a bad looking filter or risk getting banned. I chose the first option and tried to not look at the screen for more than an hour. But while playing, I noticed that you couldn't skill or built your character like in Diablo 1+2 or similar action role playing games. You get every skill during level ups and perks like in call of duty. That's nice and all, but I got really bored of playing the game after a few hours.
I picked it up again today and found no motivation playing this at all anymore. I forced myself to finish it on normal difficulty, took me about 5-6 hours while exploring everything. The first act is kinda boring, act 2 get a lot better, act 3 and act 4 are a joke in terms of length. The levels are very linear, and you just run along corridors, without much to explore.
I was really hyped for the game and this is one of the biggest disappointments in video game history for me. I still can't believe they legalized item/gold-selling with the real money auction house, giving Chinese farmers a legitimate platform for virtual item selling. On top of that, players stop trading with valuable items and just try to sell them for real money.

I'm feeling ripped of by Blizzard with this game and I can't even get my money back for it.… Expand

in France can not play more than 5 min "error 3007"
no comunication of Blissard it is a shame
or the price you pay for the game they could make an effort and provide for more server
there has been a beta for it

If you are a experienced gamer that loves RPGs, Stay away from this one. Blizzard use to be known for making games that were easy to learn but hard to master, sadly they gave up on the later. Character customization is pretty much out. Gone our questions like "Which type of Barbarian do I want to be"? Blizzard will tell you what you want - and how you want it. The menu of Characters themselves are a bit odd. Taking a page of the trolls of WoW, Diablo added a Caribbean Voodoo master to a western Gothic tale. It's does not sit well. The Graphics while being easy on the eye, are nothing to write home about. Had someone told me this was a game from 5 years ago, I would believe them. The writing is taken straight out of a Saturday morning cartoons. "Now all shall suffer", "This is true evil" and other under thought cliches will be waiting for you. This is a causal game under the guise of a AAA tittle for gamers. As a causal game, it is quite good. But those don't cost 60Euros. And yes, while you are playing nothing feels better than being told that your connection to the server has been lost.… Expand

3.7 user score and 88 metascore just shows that there is indeed something wrong with this game. The fact that none of the big gaming sites and publications - GameSpot, IGN etc - have posted their reviews after three days is, at least, suspicious (maybe they just couldn't play enough since the servers are always down). The game not coming with PvP is another hint at how the quality of Blizzard games have started to wane. This game is not only a bad piece of entertainment, but a major sign that the beloved and reliable Blizzard is finally succumbing to greed and corporate antics.… Expand

Viciously disappointed. The beauty and essence of the originals has been completely lost on these idiots. My god, do they not understand that the simple pleasure in playing the game was in the finding of that one item that would tilt the odds, the reaching of that one skill level that would give you the edge, and that the finding of the right combination of the two was in itself so satisfying that any shortfalls in other areas of the game were completely overlooked?
There is no magic here. Just right click. No value in the item you find. No care for the skill level you might achieve. Just hack. and slash. and wonder how Blizzard lost it so badly.… Expand

Blizzard has had TWELVE YEARS to deliver a solid performance and failed. The first indication of failure is the setup/launcher failure to actually install the game! Seriously? You really screwed up the INSTALLER? Activision-Blizzard, if you are not embarrassed by this, you should be. Second, common sense dictates when you release a totally online game you make ABSOLUTELY sure your servers are ready! What? You only expected 150 people to actually buy the game? FAIL, FAIL, FAIL! Updated graphics and sound do not make this a worthwhile sequel, just pretty. As Tommy Boy said, … Expand

This is the worst flop of the decade. DRM servers and no offline play. Hackers please fix this. And on top of all the BS their support will not even work or help you. They close out support tickets saying your problem is fixed without doing anything. They answer the phone while you have been waiting for 40mins on hold by picking up and hanging up on you. Anyone who preordered should get a refund now!!… Expand

Simplified version of Diablo 2, everything we loved about the previous game is replaced with lowest common denominator crap. Awful WoW-style art style, and many of the moves are taken straight from previous Blizzard games. Story is very disappointing and the game is completely linear. There's no reason for anyone to play this when there are hundreds of better games you could be playing instead, and dozens of better hack and slash ARPGs. Blizzard employees should be ashamed that it took them this long to produce such a sub-par product.… Expand

The need for a constant internet connection and the fact their servers CONTINUE to drop has just disgusted me.

Aside from that, no original content, zero character customization. Absolutely no replay value. If you haven't purchased this game yet, wait until it hits the value bin, you won't have to wait long

I was a huge fan of Diablo 1 and 2, but this is just ridiculous. The game is a fine addition to the Diablo series, even though it is horribly dumbed down for the casual gamer masses. It's apparent that Blizzard doesn't care about their customers and are just another greedy corporation. The invasive DRM kills it for me. WHY THE HELL DO I NEED TO HAVE INTERNET ACCESS FOR SINGLEPLAYER? So, if my internet dies, I can't play my game? Cool... I wish I could return it, this game really wasn't worth $60.… Expand

I don't wanna sound like a rage nerd but i joined metacritic to make a statement. In Summary - a failed launch (previous sales of the game were known in preorders sales to other distributors how can you not have enough servers to support that!?) 80 minutes to log into servers wtf?

- dumbed down monkey play system (any fool knows this does not hold a candle to the re playability of d2 everyone is the same with same skills just need to unlock the levels) you don't have to think about playing it again cause once your hero is maxed out they know everything!?

- pathetic server that constantly crashes (still getting 37 error 3006 error also being booted out and constant maintenence) I AM IN AUSTRALIA why am i in a US SERVER!?(no offense to those people) My ping is high i can't ENJOY THE GAME WHEN I DIE ON HARD CORE MODE CAUSE OF FREEZE FRAME LAG - stupid DRM when u play single player if you don't have a stable internet you know what guys? you can't play it... it will boot you and you lose your items great. you can't play it on the laptop and do some fun runs because you don't have internet. - pay to win(yes useless noblets will pay REAL CURRENCY to buy gold/items later on and own your face in PVP just because they have more money than you to spend to buy items they want. WTF is the point of being a peasant in a game are you serious who signs up to that?) - crappy graphics(torchlight looks better honestly nothing stands out plain bland graphics and just sad all round performance i have no idea why it needs a beefy comp to run those sorts of pathetic images)

- short gameplay (Koreans finished this game in 2-3 hours much replayability there? YES I KNOW WE ARE NOT KOREANS BUT it's short don't be expected to keep you entertained for long )

- Everything else is what it is a train wreck mediocre joke. i won't be supporting your stupid expansions and i don't think anyone should support their further expansions of diablo 3 I am not on the blizzard hate wagon i loved their titles (starcraft I and II, diablo 2, warcraft III FT I OWN ALL LEGIT) I once supported the company but on this occasion i cannot... it's not a matter of being spoilt it's a matter of principle that this is a joke and many people feel robbed for what they paid for a game that should not cost more than $5 AUD or $5 USD or $5 GBP. hang your heads in shame it might not affect you now as you are a multibillion dollar company but guess what lennon brothers died(who would have guessed!?). You used our hard earnt money to build your empire! If you hurt your loyal customers you will fall from grace, you are not the king of PC video games PC buyers can just choose to shun you out like they did to UBISOFT and you will become a thing of the past ... which is where this game belongs in the past!… Expand

A Ponzi scheme with absolutely nothing worth going for in return.
Transform your e-penis complexes into amazing gear for real money: Diablo III is here!

This game is ruined for me because of the internet connectivity. I don't have anything new to say. I just wanted to give another 0 to help bring down the average. Fck you blizzard i will never purchase another one of your games.

So, after finally getting through the multitude of errors stopping me from playing the game i payed for, the games a dud. It doesn't feel like diablo. I loved, and still love d2, so much i beat nightmare on hardcore. But you have no customization. Every other witch doctor has more or less the same skills as you, your choices simply do not matter.

Oh and heres a bit of news that will probably piss some people off. The always on DRM failed. So while i am unable to play the game due to internet outage, or "Scheduled downtime" The people who stole the game are playing singleplayer without blizzard hovering over their shoulder. First you try to rip me off selling me 3 copies of SC2, and now this? Whatever blizzard, you've lost a customer.… Expand

Since the time from when Diablo 3 was announced to the days before its release, my confidence in Blizzard has been severely shaken with some of the dissappointing games sequels they have released. And now, it seems that Diablo 3 is the game that broke the camels back. The respect I had for Blizzard being a revolutionary and innovative game publisher is all but lost. After paying the hefty $60 price, I am unable to play the game, not because of my computer specs, but the fact that the game has to be connected to the internet to play both multi and single player. I was aware of this fact when purchasing, however because Blizzard's server isn't even working properly, I might as well hang the diablo 3 DVD from my clothes line outside to keep the birds away; this way the DVD would actually be useful. In any other situation, if a company sells a product (or as Blizzard would like to call it, a service) in mass numbers that doesn't work, it would be refunded or recalled. This game is a perfect example of how corrupt the pc game industry has become, and how somehow it is the consumers who are out of line, because they are complaining about buying a $60 paperweight. Shame on Blizzard. By trying to discourage piracy with their always on single player connection, they only alienate the legitimate consumers who pay for their products. Moving past all of this, when actually able to play, the actual game itself is nothing new, rather an oversimplification of the former Diablo games. Attribute points are gone, character customization is limited to male or female, there is no options to choose skills (most of which are very unoriginal). In addition, the dark, moody graphics that helped define the Diablo series have been throw out for cartoony, WOW rip off graphics. To make things even worse, Diablo 3 has implemented real money, pay-to-win auction houses, allowing players to simply pay cash to create a strong player, rather than through their accomplishments in the game. To add insult to injury, players who use this feature will be helping to fatten Blizzard's wallet with every transaction, as Blizzard will be taking a 15% cut of all transactions, in additional to a $1 fee for every real money transaction. I am disgusted with Blizzard. 9 nine years in development and all we get is a money-making scheme disguised as the revolutionary Diablo 3 game that loyal fans to the series have eagerly been waiting for, taking advantage of their loyal consumer base. In closing, if there was one word to personify what I see Blizzard as after all this, it would have to be.. diablo.… Expand

I'll keep it short and simple. There is no way for people to really express discontent with the gaming industry as a whole. If we don't buy the games people say we shouldn't have a voice, but if we buy the games we only support what we don't agree with.

I fall into the first category. I was very interested in buying Diablo 3 having played both 1 and 2 numerous times over. However, as a single player type gamer, and a person that doesn't have the best internet connection or desire to socialize I find it disheartening that few companies allow me to play games on my terms. Diablo 3 is just the next installment of software hating customers like me.

Always online DRM is something I'm just not going to support. A grind game where users can pay to advance faster. Both things I just can't and won't support. I still haven't bought Diablo 3. And unfortunately I never will. Bye Blizzard. You now are a member of the ranks of EA, Activision (yes I already knew you were part of them) and Ubisoft. Take your games and go screw yourself with them.

I'm buying and playing Torchlight 2 and other games developed for me as a consumer.… Expand

Coming from a die hard Diablo 2 fan, this is the worst excuse for a Diablo game that could have been created. I was expecting graphics similar to or atleast reminiscent of any of the Diablo games, but no it isn't. It's a watered down cartoonish shadow of Diablo that I may have enjoyed when I was 10 years old and that's if I had never played a Diablo game before. They took out everything I loved. I.E The skills you had to EARN, the character diversity, the amazing dialogue and the bloody graphics almost rusty style of graphics that I personally loved. This is a HORRIBLE EXCUSE OF A GAME. DO NOT BUY IT.… Expand

As a diehard D2 player... i must say, i'm completely disappointed with this game. When I completed the game both on normal and nightmare... I felt depressed, thinking... what has this series come to? Blizzard has gotten rid of a lot of things that made D2 great and replayable even after 12 years. The ones who like it are either people who play WOW and other MMOs, or people who weren't diehard Diablo 2 players ....some diehard diablo 2 players like it though, which is baffling.… Expand

I am disgusted by grubs that took a winning model (hello, Diablo II is STILL selling well in stores, grubs!) and clamped something down on it so I CAN'T EVEN PLAY SINGLE PLAYER ON A GAME I JUST BOUGHT. Never again. Do you understand me? No Starscraft, no Diablo, no WOW, nothing. I wash my hands of you.

The service is very **** at Asia.
When I got the game. I have never connect to battle net steady.
I think Blizzard do a wrong thing. It estimate fail at Asia.

Even more repetitive than the others with the REALLY ANNOYING DRM... Disappointing... At least the others were somehow more captivating than this one...

Diablo 3 is a rehash of Diablo 2 game mechanics wise, all that has changed is the progression has been simplified for people and the art style has changed towards WoW. There has been no innovation, even after a decade. Diablo 2 had it's flaws, absolutely none were fixed and although very few, more were introduced.
This game is as shallow as they come. The only thing it does well is give you a great sense of progression, blizzard has captured how to do this exceptionally, and I hate to put it like this, but essentially the game provides fake fun On top of this, they promised the new way of progression would leave us with all kinds of builds and unique ways to end up. This is not true, all people have been building the same as they level up, then when it gets to 30-60 you have only 2-3 builds to choose from per character (unless you want to choose something... thats obvious nonsense....)
This game is worth $60 if money is literally dirt to you.

[Server lag and AFK timeouts in my single player experience]… Expand

First of all know that you are responsible for what blizzard has become. You fed and praised blizzard by sticking and protecting WoW and its expansions so much so you would never see the truth about blizzard. Its all about milking (like EA). Did you really expect a 2d overhead perspective game to be something new? It could only have better graphics than diablo 2 and simplified game mechanics. Add to this the damned "Always online" new fashion and you 've got a shinny piece of **** by Blizzard. You people better start giving credit to other developers and stop being fanboys.… Expand

By far the largest joke in gaming history. This company only cares about profit, to the point they will force you to play this game *online* when it's a single player game... Why does this matter soo much? Because their whole reason for forcing online play is their "Real Money Auction House" which they have taxed 3-ways!!! Thats right, you might be able to sell something online, via their system, but Blizzard will make a huge profit off each sell.

To make matters worse, they REFUSE to support any sort of competitive PvP system, meaning NO LADDER, NO TOURNAMENTS, NO RANKINGS, NO PvP AT RELEASE!!!

I give this game a 1 out of 10!… Expand

Wife and husband play together: Other remarks: 1. No real character customization. She kind of wondered why we had to put points into our chars when really there was no place to put them but what the game chose for us. This was weird. It didn't really seem like you were creating "your" character but creating one already chosen for you. This was a real downer. 1b. Skill switcher - Sorry this didn't fly well either. We have to open up a window to switch skills and select a new one. We don't have a box where we could put them on hot keys. "Why can't I just put my skills in some bar" she said.

2. Difficulty - As mentioned before the game is very easy. I can't believe how simple it is to move around and kill mobs. I clearly remember d2 being harder with more monsters and harder "in ground" dungeons. I told my wife that she would have to beat the game in order to make it more difficult , and then "replay" the whole content again. She kind of laughed at that and said "no thanks." ie replaying the content to get a better challenge for her didn' really go over well.… Expand

My opinion is based solely on the single-player experience, nostalgia and the expectations I had based on what Blizzard have released prior to this game.

The single-player campaign is very unimpressive and the audio logs (journals) that are meant to flesh out the world are more often than not of rather poor quality. The removal of attribute and skill points makes leveling up a trivial and uninteresting event, and it is nothing short of a tragedy for all those who played the two first Diablo games.

I experienced several times (roughly 27 times in a single playthrough) where the game would hang and all combat and actions were "stuck" and after a second or two the game would resume, causing monsters to teleport around based on where they would have gone during the hang. Having this happen on a T1 internet connection in a single-player game is beyond unacceptable.

It was Blizzard themselves who set a new standard of what we could expect from a single-player experience when they released StarCraft 2 Wings of Liberty.

Whether or not they release new content, events and modes is entirely unimportant as the only thing that matters is what I think of the game after having played through it... and I am not impressed if this is the quality we can expect from future Blizzard games.… Expand

Fanboys, you do not simply rate "playing" with the product, you rate the whole product!

As a product, Diablo 3 is a letdown in multiple ways. These include:
1) Buggy installations - numerous errors such as "Incorrect Installation Options Selected" when no such thing happened, and install crashes or freezes at 1%/5%/etc. 2) Lacking infrastructure to actually facilitate gameplay on opening day. Do you know how many "Diablo 3 Opening" parties were a let down? What exactly is the point of a "midnight opening" to be among the first to get the game, when you cant actually play it? And all in the name of anti-piracy when in fact the game has already been cracked (less than 48 hours later) and pirated "offline" versions are available through "other channels"!
3) Laggy solo play - high ping times persisting days after launch, and many people just living far away from servers (i.e. outside of the US and Europe) is an aweful experience
4) Ridiculous, opportunistic, and greedy price tag - it is no way worth what its being sold for, and this company simply took advantage of its fans. Smart fans will realise this, and they wont appreciate it. Then the actual game:
1 point for nice music. That is all. 1) Graphics - the game reminds me of Monkey Island by Lucasarts. Its so cartoony and does its best to not fit in with the atmosphere that its trying to creat by the story and the videos - there is a huge disconnect here
2) Difficulty - its retard-friendly. Normal difficulty is a joke.
3) Interface - minimal character customisation. Things just unlock. Minimal thinking required. 4) Random Map Resets every day? omg
5) Voice Acting - lol - another joke
6) Real Money Auction House - profiteering and legalised 'cheating'. Performance can now be based less on effort and more on your credit card....
7) PVP - not released with the release :P lol again!

This game is a fail. Diablo 2 is superior from an "atmosphere" perspective. Its superior from the perspective of "actually being able to play" too! Some might argue that Diablo 3 is its own game, and thats fine. However its a game that came with alot of expectation strapped to it, and has overall not lived up to the hype....it hasnt even come close to be honest. For a game that has been in development for so long, by such a big developer, you would be forgiven for thinking that maybe some fans had gotten tired of waiting and strung what we have here together themselves in their spare time. You definitely dont expect this kind of release from the mighty Blizzard! The company that only has 3 well-recognised brands, because all of them have (until now) been totally epic! Well folks, it looks like the beginning of the end for Blizzard is here. Very, very, dissapointed. Have actively persuaded people to spend their money in better ways.… Expand

Everyone should avoid this monstrosity at all costs. You have been warned. Blizzard should not be allowed to profit on this nonsense. Just because of the name, they figure they can half ass this and still make money. Guys, we should boycott this.

D3 has reduced the series to something else, its not the game it should be. Its overly simplified to the point where you could most likely teach a chimpanzee to play it. On the opening day, its riddled with errors, which normally would be expected but not from blizzard who run the biggest MMOs in the world. SC2 and WoW. This is a game which was developed for 10 years, I feel I could have gotten a degree in software writing, rendering, modelling and texturing and made a better game in the same timeframe. The lack of single player feels stingy and irritating, as the previous 2 games were primarily based on single player. The cash shop allows players to pay to win, the annoying thing is of course that you cannot choose to not play with these people as there is no singleplayer, playing the game requires you remain online. Similarly, the feel of the game, that is, the music, the texturing etc isn't in a unique style. Personally it feels cartoonish and unrealistic, so much so that the 128 colour graphics of d2 are more realistic. The music feels like they were trying to improve on a masterpiece by rewriting Tristram's theme. If you have played Diablo 1 or 2. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. If you haven't and this is your first game ever, there's a good chance you may enjoy it.… Expand

Do yourself a favor and play a demo of this, or go to a friend's place to try it before you buy. I wish I had. I feel like Blizzard has stolen $60 from me, the graphics are ho hum, the story line is old and boring, and the action is totally BLAH. If anyone knows how I could get my money and time back from this experience, please let me know. Have all the great game designers been squelched at these big companies? Where is the fun and innovations I use to associate with big title releases?… Expand

There are far many games worse than D3, but $60 for this is absolutely a travesty. Graphics not great, audio pretty weak, and when playing you know that it's not worth even $30 so it makes the game that much worse. Everyone has said enough already, but don't buy this game now.

Lackluster graphics, game play, story, and skill trees. DRM to play a single player game? What are we paying for then? HUGE disappointment. If you want to own it, pirate it. You don't get what you pay for.

What is the point of buying a game if you can't even play it? I saved up for it, just to play by myself. I'm not a big multiplayer user, so I bought it for the singleplayer. Turns out, it doesn't matter. I can't play it without being online, which is horrible since I don't always have internet. Also: Error 37.

This game is fun if you can play...Every time i get on to play the servers are down for maintenance. When I do get in a game I get constant 3007 errors after 20 min of playing which disconnect me back to the login screen. I keep having to replay the same quests over and over because of the disconnects. This is very unlike blizzard to release a game that's not finished with these type of problems. Contemplating getting a full refund.

Being forced to play online is the biggest mistake this game makes...if your going to force me to play online better have a server that is available for me WHEN IM READY TO PLAY. This game is a huge fail.… Expand

I would give 8.5 if you could play offline, but I have to keep stopping every moment, either because of bugs or long maintenance of own blizzard, this type of treatment the client can not get away

For the first thing - i want to mention that i didnt experienced any problam with the servers disconnecting and i really dont mind about the DRM system. After few hours playing this game i have only 1 word to say - DISAPPOINTMENT.
If u played diablo 1, and diablo 2 and ur a diablo fan? dont think about playing this game because it will just make u angry.
it seems blizzard neglected all the good and unique features that made diablo II LoD one of the best games in history.
1. No customize Skills + Artibbutes - this is really poor and ruine the game experience for me. blizzard aimed this game for 6 years old who dont need to think. u cant longer do customize and special chars (for exemple enchantress bear sorc on d2 :p).
2. Party groups of only 4 ppl - really shame then instead of moving foward and making the game experience of interacting and playing with other people they move back to only 4 people partys.
3. No game list like diablo 2- all the games are randomize and u cant enter a game for trading like on diablo 2.
4. The trading experience is really bad now- u dont longer can have the great feeling of the trading in diablo 2 (trading low items junk for medium junk. medium junk into better items etc)- i remember i used to spend many nights by only trading junk to get better items.
5. NO more world PVP feature - i wasnt a big fan of it but it was fun to duel people on world pvp, now u can only do WoW style pvp arena which is good but they neglected world pvp which was fun.
In conclusion, blizzard had 12 years to make the Diablo III and they wasted all this time of making a poor WoW 2. Diablo II is a game who stand the test of time and is still largly played by many people around the world this days, when diablo III in my opinion doesnt even stand the test of present time. its a truly sad day for diablo game series fans. take care.… Expand

This game is unplayable because of DRM. I have 6Mbps ADSL Internet connection and pings in other games like 80-120ms. In D3 my average ping is of 600-1000. This is incredibly unplayable even at single player campaign.
I've wasted 60 euros just because Blizzard was a trusted company for me till here. I don't care about graphics and sound, i don't care about many years of development of that game. I simply log in, watch my hero "jumping through space" in lags and i quit.… Expand

Let me start by saying that if you haven't noticed, metacritic is working really hard trying to avoid Diablo III getting the score the users think (which IMO is the closest to what this game deserves) by censoring comments with nothing wrong in it just for rating below 2, i got my comment deleted for no reason so i'm not going to rewrite all over again, just some facts: Cons:
-No customization at all
-None replayability
-Ridiculously flat skill/attribute points
-Extremely linear
-Difficulty not challenging at all
-No runewords
-Pay to win RMAH
-Battlenet 2.0
-WoW-like skills and graphics
-+200str an armor? lol...(WoW-like items, never seen a +200str or +200 any other attribute in diablo games)
-No PvP on release
-Checkpoints (awful implementation) -Joining game issues like: leveling up or getting waypoints you didn't have.
-Almost none ingame trade system (no global chat equals no trade between players equals all trades made with blizzard as intermediary equals high end items that worth RM get sold in RMAH equals blizzard getting part of)
-12 years wait.

Pros:
-Due to the dificulty and the mobs AI you could still play Diablo III even with both arms broken.
-Its pretty optimized for smooth gameplay even on not high end PCs.… Expand

The worst let down of all time... The story is mediocre, there is no challenging gameplay, it takes 4 days to completely max out your character for what that is even worth since you don't get to choose anything and everyone's characters are exactly the same, level cap is 60. They basically took out everything that made it fun. It is no longer a dungeon crawler, as expansive levels and have been replaced by one room caves, i'm not sure any of the maps ever even change since everything is pretty much in the same place.... The graphics are way less than acceptable... The real problem though is the leveling system you can't choose any skill points, spells or anything about your character other than their name, on top of that the cap is 60 and it takes no time to get there after the first difficulty your level thirty minimum.. Diablo 2 was a challenging game it took for ever to get to level 90 and above and that is what made it fun the game is about leveling and loot it doesn't work without both parts... turns out to be like thanks i'm level 60 now great that took 4ish days i guess i could start a new character but since it took so little time to get here is this even fun at this point. I really loved the idea of RMAH but once again what value do any items have if every eight-year-old and their mom can make it to the level cap without any effort, its certainly instant gratification for people who hate actually accomplishing things. Torchlight was a much better developed game and i'm sure its budget was null in comparison to Diablo 3's. THE ONLY GOOD THING ABOUT THIS GAME IS THAT BLIZZARD HAS RUN OUT OF GAMES TO RUIN AT THIS POINT.… Expand

Blizzard North disappeared and see what it gave : something that shouldn't have been called Diablo...
Rainbows in Diablo, are you kidding me ? Too easy, no skill tree, always online DRM, no PVP in the open world...

Extremely expensive game with poor graphics and a bad story. It requires constant connection to the internet to play and the servers are always busy/down.

As an Australian player, this game is nearly unplayable. I'm stuck with a ping that averages 600, which makes combat sluggish, ugly, and playing multi-player with friends causes severe lag spikes which are absolutely disgusting.

Blizzard used to be a company I had a bit of respect for, but their abuse of everyone that isn't American paints them as a bunch of elitist pigs that the world would be better without.

I mean, EA included Australian servers for SWTOR, but Blizzard? Blizzard are now scum of the gaming world. **** Blizzard.… Expand

A really great game... if it was playable. Great graphics, great optimization, great story-telling, awesome atmosphere and gameplay...
but horrid on-line experience (can't connect, server under maintenance, horrid lag spike...)
Blizzard knew people were already upset about the lack of an off-line mode, yet they failed to deliver a stable on-line play.

This review contains spoilers. As a new player to Diablo franchise or even to Blizzard games, I didn't really know what to expect. I only knew it is about fighting monsters, gathering loot and so on. The way gameplay is made is kinda... weird, to be honest. First you obtain an account on so-called battle.net, then you use it to log-in in game. After you do it, monster cards begin to appear, each in nice rectangular frame and labelled with name like "error 37" or so. They also have a nice flavor text. If they appear it means that you have logged too slow and the monster has won. There is quite a variety of enemies, varying in effects and how quickly they kill. The 37 is most common one. 10001 tends to spawn along with 3000008. 12 is a fun one, requires the player to change his "build" in options menu. If the player manages to kill the monster, they can create a character (which is werid, shouldn't it be done BEFORE the actual fight?), and they can take it to fight with other cards. I have yet to beat 3004 and 3006, those are nasty. Balance is weird. 33 is unbeatable. 37 is very common one, easy to beat with typing quick enough. 300008 is rare and weak. I would have nothing against the number indicating how powerful is the encountered mob. 33 is close to 37 and yet they are completely diffrent.

Overall I am not sure if I like this novel approach to card-based gameplay, but hey, thats Blizzard. Those guys surely know how to make a good game. In the end, however, the point of a review is to tell how much reviewer likes the game and its particular aspects. Gameplay gets 2 big, bad 2 for me - unique for sure, but in the end boring. Quite time consuming, too, and I don't feel any sense of progress, though, beating a 10001 feels good for sure!

Graphics are nice, there is an animated background. It does not fit the fighting errors theme, I think something more related to computers would be better. The same can be said about music. 6 for both - Nice, but not fitting.

It is said that the game has some form of multiplayer - I don't really understand how to use it.

So, in the end: unique card game which is quite hard to understand properly. Massive flaws in balance of particular cards, also gets boring after some time.… Collapse

On one hand, its a good game. Well made, typical of its genre, lots of clicking etc :)

On the other so far (end of Act 2) little or no sub-plots. Dumbed down stats management - do companies not realise that players want to feel as though their characters are personal? Fixed stats per character type destroy that. No character portraits or customisation. Every character, colour aside looks exactly the same...

Finallly, online DRM.... battle net down again.... first weekend.... they have had so long to get this right. And they have failed miserably. If online DRM was not around, I'd give it an extra couple of points. As it is, I have a distinct problem with not being able to play a single player game without the need for an internet server.… Expand

what kind of company makes a game and forces single player to connect to a server and then take the European servers down at peak time on a Sunday when most people will want to play?
Hopefully a company that very soon will be going insolvent when it loses its fan base. Let's hope Torchlight 2 do better than this and take all Blizzard's customers.

i bought this game because i was a fan of diablo II. Diablo III was made in 2 years i think. Graphics are so bad for 2012. And this f***** online mod! I have a game, i paid 60â

This game is just ridiculous I cant understand how could it be that you not only need to connect to the internet in order to play singelplayer, but it also BLOCK you from using it because too many people around the world, simultaneously, are using the same product. Blizzard is actually defying the terms of the game- the costumer pay, and then play. In this case, the costumer not only paying more then any other game, but also get a limited access for his game. Awfull.… Expand

Unplayable connections, low graphics and ridiculous leveling system make this game sickening. Blizzard has lost a customer for life. No more. The DRM systems fails on every level and so has Blizzard.

If I was just scoring on the mediocre game play/graphics and the average story then I'd probably give it a 5, throw in the always on DRM for a single player game (WTF?) and the fact that getting on for a week after its release you still can't consistently log in and play whenever you like, the best I can say is a 2. Seriously put me off Blizzard games and will be voting with my wallet in the future.… Expand

No, the game isn't as horrible as people make it out to be, but it's still the most disappointing Blizzard title to date. The graphics may be severely dated, the gameplay might be lackluster and tedious at times, and there is extremely limited variety among random item modifiers -- but the game is still fun -- although perhaps not $60-fun. I recommend it to people who are head over heels in love with the Diablo series but nobody else.

The game has plenty of great details, such as the fantastic-looking environments and animations despite the outdated graphics engine. The gameplay is fun, but it gets tedious very quickly -- Normal / Nightmare difficulties are way too easy, and Hell / Inferno are nothing more than inflated difficulty (insanely high HP/Damage) that require you to grind for better gear. The only new enemies you fight are ones that have gimmick abilities you must dodge (like of like a mario party minigame) and aren't actually any more difficult AI-wise. Really, they could have done a lot more in the 6+ years of development.

My issues with the game seem to be endless at times. The always-online DRM, the constant server problems and lag, frame-drops (my computer can handle most games at maxed GFX, but I still get frame-drops in Diablo 3), no PvP on launch, and I digress. One of my biggest complaints is that the auction house is a miserable excuse for a way to exchange items between players; with clunky searching options, maximum of 10 auctions at a time, and you cannot take items down once you've put them up -- so they are stuck there for 2 days unless they sell. So all in all, not the worst purchase I've ever made, but it's definitely one of the biggest let-downs.… Expand

I can hardly connect to the game, and when I can I just experience insane lags... The game is unplayable..even is solo, because of the need ot be online in order to play the game...

Nothing new in this game, its very very easy, simple point and click and that's about it. You will spend most of your time actually trying to get logged into the game even for single player!
Most disappointed I've ever been with a game, played it for 3 days now and I'm tired of it.

Dumbed down and disappointing and downright dull. The DRM is a dick move. Hard to believe this game has been in development for a year let alone a decade. Too easy and too short and the story was just some hack job. Terrible game.

When I heard Diablo 3 was coming out I got excited. I have played this series since the beginning. But having played it now for about a week I must say this game is an extreme disappointment. I'll lay the pro's out first, not that there are many. First the new classes are interesting, new twists on old ideas. They kept the random generated maps and items which I also like. The story seems solid as well.

Ok on to the con's. First and foremost why on earth the devs decided to make a single player game require online connectivity to play is beyond me. Whats worse is the servers keep crashing, and I've experienced lag, which has killed me on numerous occasions. And its not like I live in the sticks with a shoddy connection either. This is where random maps become an issue, more than once I've been three quarters done with a level only to lose a connection and have to restart the whole thing on a new map.

Next major issue, they dumbed down the leveling so much, this no longer feels like an rpg, more like an action arcade game from ten years ago. Call me old fashioned but I like attribute points, and I like assigning them they way I want to. Its an interesting concept to be able to change skills at random, but honestly I don't even do that that much. Also, why are rewards for achievements new banner decorations? I don't get to use the banner in game.

Next is the items, the fact that nothing has any resale value essentially means I only bother picking up magical items. Even those I just pickup en mass since I no longer need to worry about portal scrolls. Again, that was part of the rpg element, managing your scrolls. Speaking of scrolls, or lack there of, why even bother having rare unidentified objects. It then just becomes a hassle waiting to identify something. If we want to make a game five year olds can play, why not at least make it streamlined and have everything identified. Oh and potion management and health globes, both useless. Why there is a time limit on health potions is again beyond me. I have a stack of no less then thirty potions at any one time simply because I cant use them. Then every third enemy drops a health globe anyway so whats the point? When I don't need health there's plenty, when I do need it I can't use it. Also the merchants are useless, their good seem to be chronically below my level. The only time I actually go to one is to repair my equipment. Even the blacksmith, who I try and keep a few levels ahead of me, is weak in the gear department.

Lastly the enemies are somewhat disappointing. They either seem to easy, or too difficult with no real sense of balance. In fact, the only boss I've even had a bit of trouble with was the the first, Belial. After that they all die way to quickly. I've had more trouble just getting swamped by waves of regular monsters. Overall, while the game does have its moments, its just too frustrating and simple to be that recommendable. Blizzard could fix most of the issues if they care, but we will see. If I finish the game it will probably be the last time I play it.… Expand

I purchased this game mostly to play single player. I can't even use the product I purchased because of the Always-online DRM that Blizzard programmed by making a battle.net connection REQUIRED for single player. Bravo, after years of "polishing" I can not play because of your greed. The servers are so overwhelmed I can not log into the single player game. Total BS.

As many of these reviews were made on release date which was, to be modest, a terrible launch day, I feel it is only fair to give the game an honest review that isn't smothered in contempt and raging anxiety. Diablo 3 is a DECENT game, it's not good, and itâ

Sorry Blizzard, you know I love you but I have yet to play a session without getting disconnected with some sort of error message. That I could have lived with for a few days, but you've now had well over a week to fix it and it actually seems to be getting worse.

I took a break of 2 days and today I decide to give it another go and got an Error 3007 after 3 minutes! If you're going to put such intrusive DRManti-piracyanti-cheat measures into a game in the future, try to make sure it doesn't screw over half your PAYING CUSTOMERS who have no intention of hackcheatetc!! And yes I absolutely will give the game a poor score due to this because it has thus far ruined the whole experience for me.... all I want to do is have an hour or 2 of single player goodness yet most MMO releases are better than this. And no I'm not going to start rebooting my modem and opening random ports to try and solve this because I have plenty of other multiplayer games and even MMOs that don't require such measures.… Expand

My first review on Metacritic. I had to give Diablo 3 a 1 out of 10 based on two reasons, the lack of offline gameplay and the recent Blizzard statement. Blizzard released a glowing press statement about the record sales figures of Diablo 3 with this paragraph included. 'we're especially proud of the gameplay feedback we've received from players worldwide'. It must be nice to be this intentionally ignorant of how customers feel about the DRM measures they have had forced down their throats. The only option if you want to be free of this type of business decision is to not buy the game. (or look to the hackers to come up with a crack for off line single players) Unfortunately we all bought Diablo 3 anyway, knowing that the DRM was in the bargain. I guess it took buying it to truly understand how terrible the DRM is. Well, once bitten twice shy. Blizzard's attitude coupled with awful DRM and a just about above average game equals a 1/10 for me. It is a shame that gaming is hitting these all time lows...… Expand

This game is okay, but it is nothing like Diablo 2. It has been modeled around being sustainable income for Blizzard.

Currently the only way to be able to farm gear that is worth anything is to use the gear that is worth anything. The only reason people are able to do so right now is because they abused overpowered builds, but they have since been nerfed so nobody else can farm it. Inferno in this game is difficult because of boosted enemy damage and hp, not a change in actual challenge. It's one big gear check.

Since you can't make gold without farming good items to buy good items in order to farm good items, you'll need to use the Real Money Auction House when it comes out.

It's one big ploy for your money, gents... just wait for Torchlight 2 or go play something else.… Expand

Disappointed. I played solo and the game crashed because of disconnected. Everyday. WTF is this ? DRM for honest players ? I can't create LAN party, I can't join friends directly, I must give my login to play everytime.
The game is nice but I can't have fun with this, I give a 1.

Even ignoring the atrocious status of the servers, making it impossible to play two weeks after release, the game is unoriginal. Don't get me wrong, it's a solid game, but they took Diablo 2, gutted the skill system slapped on new graphics and failed to deliver on basically any of their extravagant pre-release promises.

The biggest innovation D3 brings to the table is that Blizzard has found a way to bring server issues and lag to the single player game. Not good. Other than that the gameplay is decent but never shines because the difficulty curve is 3 difficulties of trivially easy followed by a brick wall of difficulty spike. The gear itemization is really poor, the storytelling is sub-mediocre and its predecessors with worse graphics from a technical perspective do a better job of creating atmosphere.… Expand

I've been playing this game for more than 100+ hours now and I really have to say that in it's entirety, I hate it. Not in it's core content and but in it's implementation. Don't get me wrong. It is still fun to play and retains the same dungeon-crawling, loot-grabbing, clickity-click click goodness. But is that really all there is to it? I've played D1/D2 and have finished and enjoyed those multiple times but what made those games stand out and acquired a cult following seems to have been lost in D3. I'm not even gonna mention the DC's and server stuff because those are fixable, in fairness to Blizzard. Upon playing this game a lot because of it's "fundamentally" fun gameplay, and I use the term loosely, I can't help myself in the back of my mind feeling cheated. It seems that this "Always-Online" thing is forced upon the consumer to make sure that their asses are covered for delivering an unpolished product. Think of it as ordering delivery for a pizza. They send it to your house, without most of the toppings and the delivery guy occasionally puts toppings on it as you notice it while eating. Terrible.

They also mentioned the online setting is to promote coop and to fight gold-sellers and outside seeling from third-party sites and what-not. But they have a real currency auction house for Christ-sakes, they want you to spend your money on them, not on some god-forbidden site where they have no share from the earnings.

The way the loot is spread and supposedly "randomized", somehow I felt cheated. I have 3 level 60 characters and you don't get what you need, ever. You get crap or what other classes need. Hence me making 3 Chars. Seriously, the AH has been my friend and I couldn't have survived without it. How will I have gold? Yes, grinding. Now, I don't mind grinding but when you're digging through the ground with a teaspoon to find an ever so slightly bigger teaspoon to dig with, well you get the picture. They got you playing for a long time and almost always never getting a feeling of satisfaction.

Maybe I'm a noob, maybe you're the greatest player in D3, but one thing is clear. D3 is made with business in mind. They don't care really care about you, all they care is you clocking a million hours doing the same things so they can get more of your money. From the bottom of my best judgment and honesty, I give this game a measly 1/10 for its entirety. After all, the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Nuff' said. Thanks for reading. HTH.… Expand

Not much more than a slot machine.

Note. In games, I always play single player campaigns. Rarely play online multiplayer (never played WoW or any other mmo). Up till now really rated Blizzard. I finished the game with all class (although normal difficulty) and uninstalled the game after reaching level 60 with a monk class and 25-30 with all other (I don't know why I kept going really, I really wanted the game to be fun, I guess I didn't want to feel like I threw $80 away - probably the same reason I am writing this)

-Gameplay -
Poor balance, starts too easy on normal, then hell champs are unbeatable without buying your way through.
Loot is clearly scripted to be below your level or for a different class, most drops are useless (hatred on sword...), I refuse to go on the online auction to buy items when I want to play solo however the game force you to do that. In that case there is no way to progress other than abusing the AI, avoiding combat or restarting the game to generate easier champs.
There is no real skill involved in beating enemies, point and click really (that or die, restart, die when the enemy champs combo you without any way to react -e.g. paralyse + insta kill area spell)
Poor dungeons layout, no sense of exploring, spend most of the time backtracking (items that increase your speed are a must) with little else happening.
The first two chapters are long enough and don't feel as linear, has some interaction with the environment (only chapter 1 really), however you will notice a big drop in quality for the last 2. I hated doing the 3rd one -feels like a really long corridor toward chapter 4 - and the last chapter although having nice visuals is really too short compared to the others. I am amazed that the story is so short and linear for a games that's been in dev for so long. It's not as if blizz had to start from scratch.
Characters are quite different although one quickly realise their skills are fairly pointless at higher level. And Bliz nerfed a couple of abilities that were used too much apparently (some might call it balancing to me it' killing some of the fun aspect to make it blend. If I want to run set a set of skills I will even if they are not as powerfull as other combo, it's up to me to decide but then again the problem is with the online balance. As shame really in other rpg games it would be up to me to decide if I wanted to change my gaming experience by applying a balance patch or not.

-Story-
Nothing special but nothing too bad there. Very linear and so predictable, not great fantasy there but I guess the story in this game is secondary, a shame you have to go through it again every time you restart the game at higher level of difficulty (i.e. no random levels to explore) -Re playability -
Nothing here, no random dungeons (clearly the same map with a chance of bringing 2/3 scripted events (i.e. small cellar, merchant) from a pool of ~10), I played the same story with all characters, brought the monk to 60 the games hoping it would get better however it got boring after the 2nd replay
Adding to that random server maintenance (it took an afternoon off work to play and got very frustrating not being able to play a solo game).

- Other -
Too many hacked account doesn't inspire confidence in Blizzard. for one I see this as a solo game. Blizz has created the security issue by going online and clearly has poor server problems. The game is clearly designed around the auction house instead of what happens ingame.… Expand

A generally well made game which has failed to meet many expectations from the community, based on previous experience with the franchise. The biggest shortcoming is the lack of end-game content, which has left many more dedicated fans restless and unhappy (hence the bad reviews here).

I had high hopes for this game, crushed hopes now. I won't complain about the graphics, they're nothing special, but get the job done. They game play mechanics are actually enjoyable, for a while... and that's where it ends.

I think most of the reviews here have covered the boring storyline, blah...blah..blah.. I'll focus more on the current state of the game. The game shouldn't even be named Diablo, it should be called Auction House. After playing a while, you quickly realize that the gear you need to progress to the next act doesn't drop for you. So it then becomes a gold grind to afford your upgrades at the Auction House. Along come all the exploits, bots, etc. and the economy is out of control.

Blizz's latest solution to this is patch 1.03. Nerf everyone's damage, 5x everyone's repair costs, 3 min enrage timers on bosses, no items in smashing and kicking things anymore, very little gold from the environment, you're killing inferno mode bosses/champs and getting hell mode loot. The forums at Blizzard are on fire, the mods can't delete the negative threads fast enough, players leaving the game in droves and an attitude of indifference from the one or two mods who've actually responded to the flood of rage.

Sad part is.... I still think the game has potential to be great if the execs over there would focus more on making the game fun rather than how to funnel as many sheep as possible into the Real Money Auction House to get their 15% cut..

Do yourself a big favor if you're considering buying Auction House 3, Give it a month or two and see if Blizz is able to iron out the wrinkles, because currently, it's a joke.… Expand

The game is fun until you reach level 60 and inferno. Then it gets boring. Farming the same spot way too many times and only getting **** items isn't my idea of fun. The game is built around tha AH, and when the economy is ruined by bots the RMAH is the only way to go. Diablo 3 should be about killing monsters and finding cool items you could use, but it's not. I'ts repetetive avd it gets really boring really fast… Expand

The game has good content for early levels, slick graphics, but a very unsatisfying grind. An essential part of the Diablo franchise is itemization: the idea that finding and identifying loot is fun and exciting. This is not the case here. Loot quality and drop rates were significantly lowered in an attempt to curb its in-game economy. The result is incredibly repetitive gameplay as you re-run the same acts over and over for the minuscule chance to upgrade a single piece of gear.

Blizzard's attempts to appeal to a more casual gaming fanbase has resulted in much "dumbing down" compared to Diablo II. Skill points are now automatically allocated for you, and although there are seemingly multiple skill builds you can try out, the nature of the endgame forces most players to follow one or two builds in order to survive and progress.

Fighting enemies and clearing mobs is more dependent on the quality of your items rather than skills such as maneuvering or spell usage. Certain mobs contain random affixes that grant them special abilities; while this is an interesting concept there are certain combinations of affixes that are insurmountable, requiring numerous deaths to overcome, or restarting the game. You'll often come across monsters with strange hitboxes, able to kill you from 10 feet away even though you fled in the nick of time. The game also punishes dying, having quadrupled repair costs in one of the patches; a game should not dictate your style of play, nor should it punish you for being adventurous in exploring and combat. Bosses are more interesting, but come with an "enrage timer", essentially a countdown to doom should you not kill them fast enough. Why should you be told how to play?

Items are boring and lend to boring build diversity. The important stats are your primary, vitality, all resistance, life on hit, and critical damage. Stacking lesser stats will only get you hinder your progression as you'll probably fail to make a dent in any late-game monster. Legendary and unique set items are the rarest to obtain, and are mostly crap; the majority of them have inferior stats compared to magic and rare items; Blizzard has already acknowledged their **** and promises to buff them "Soon".

The game pushes you to use the Auction House (both Gold and Real Money). As a solution to Diablo II's lack of a formal trading system, the AH provides a quick way to upgrade items without having to spend time fighting hordes of monsters. Unfortunately numerous gold farmers, AH bots, and rampant item flippers (people who buy low, sell high) have caused the in-game economy to go wack, making top-tiered item prices exorbitantly high, and mediocre-to-good items unprofitable/unsellable due to high supply and low demand. On top of that, Blizzard takes a 15% cut on every transaction, and a $1 cut on top of that for Real Money transactions.

The game is meant to be played CO-OP, but many issues discourage doing so. Magic find is a vital stat that gets split among party members, punishing you for having good gear while teaming up with those who don't. Monster HPs and damage are increased by fixed percentages when you play with others; either everyone carries their own weight or you'll all suffer in combat. What happens here is friends will join your game, sometimes slightly underleveled/undergeared, and cause all sorts of headaches for your entire party because of the increased difficulty. After having this happen repeatedly you'll not only want to play by yourself (you have a personal follower when playing solo), and you'll shun friends by telling them to get better at the game before playing with you. Neither is conducive to good CO-OP gameplay.

Gameplay aside, the storyline is passable. After one playthrough there's no reason to rewatch the cinematics or click through all the forced dialogue.

The final nail in the coffin is Blizzard's utter lack of respect for its community and fanbase. A glimpse at the official D3 forums (http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/3354739/) will show the numerous threads of players quitting, complaining about the game's difficulty/economy/itemization, and whatnot. You can take this with a grain of salt, but the amount of negativity and outcry surely hints at how terrible this game is. Threads are constantly censored and deleted without notice; well thought out posts giving constructive criticism are mostly ignored. Instead, mods will respond instantaneously to those having issues depositing $ into their Bnet account (and delete your thread should you try pointing this out).

This is the most infuriating game I've played in a long time; Blizzard has tarnished their reputation with this ill-conceived, ill-tested piece of **** Jay Wilson and his greedy team deserve to rot in hell for destroying such a storied franchise. Don't waste your money here.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have been a huge fan of the Diablo series (was 1 of my favorites) & logged countless hours playing the 1st 2 Diablo games. D3, however, is a terrible game in almost every imaginable way. Here's why not to buy D3:

1)Maps: essentially not randomly generated (as they have been in past games). Most areas are static (e.g. the overworld), & some are 'randomly generated' & have 2-4 possible layouts - these areas could be more accurately described as 'randomly chosen' from predetermined layouts. This is a big change from the infinite map layouts previous Diablo games could have.

2)No open world exploration/free play option. In addition to no random maps, gameplay is locked into quest progression. In D2, a player could start a game in any act & travel anywhere in that act or any other act. In D3 a player chooses a quest & creates a game based on that quest, having progressed through the act as if you were still on that quest. If you already killed a boss in the act, they remain dead. To travel to another act, the player must exit the game & create a new 1 by selecting a different quest.

3)The game is linear/mechanical/repetitive. Diablo games have previously been designed to be played for years after release (D2 online community is still sizable ). D3's lack of random maps quickly leads to areas becoming tedious/boring as they are so repetitive. Worse yet, quest objectives are shown as blinking dots on the minimap (as if you couldn't remember your way around after playing identical areas many times over) so you never have to think about what the objective is or which direction you should be heading. For the most part, all RPG elements have been removed from the series (which is supposed to be an action RPG).

4)Auction house: Many people argue it has ruined the game's economy, or that it promotes a pay-to-win playstyle. It is also the main way to trade in-game items & the UI is so terrible that it takes a very long time to do so.

5)Nephalem Valor: forces people to stick with a build for a long time or be punished - being forced to choose between more loot/rewards or more freedom/fun (i.e. being rewarded for having less fun - a game should promote fun). 6)Significantly increased item repair costs strongly discourage people from attempting difficult content which makes the game boring/monotonous. The repair costs don't affect people who already have lots of good gear & are farming acts 3/4 & punish people who don't have much gold & are just starting to gear up.

7)Elite mobs: designed to be what players farm for end-game items. These mobs have the same 25 randomly chosen abilities (up to 4 different affixes each encounter) across all 4 acts. For the most part every fight is similar/easy & it feels like you are running all over all 4 acts just so to engage in the same boss fight over & over again - there is little diversity between acts.

8)Story: absolutely terrible.

9)No end game content - nothing to keep players interested/playing for years to come.

10)Itemization/characterization: boring - classes are not unique/use the exact same items. Item affixes have been simplified/dumbed down. Affixes such as fire, lightning, holy, etc. damage no longer has secondary effects such as crits adding DoT, stunning targets, dealing extra damage to undead - they are instead completely cosmetic.

11)The game has a very cheesy/cartoony/family friendly art style (not referring to content) & has abandoned the more mature look of its predecessors. D3's artistic direction does not really allow for interesting/scary/whatever models of demons. 1 of the better models, Azmodan, was still less scary than Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Blizz said they think the game has a timeless, stylized, aesthetic (like they say about WoW.. but it's not suited to D3).

13)This game borrowed too much from WoW rather than from previous Diablo games.

12)No open world PvP. Diablo I & II had fun open world PvP. D3 will feature only arena PvP (whenever Blizz decides to finally add PvP).

14)The game looks, feels, & plays like a game from around 2005 - it's dated.

15)The game just generally feels rushed/incomplete (& in many ways is incomplete, e.g. no PvP at launch & no date set for when it will be implemented).

If you're not a fan of the Diablo series/looking to waste 20 hours or so - this game should keep you adequately entertained for that long. If you played Diablo I/II & are looking for another game to spend countless hours playing over many years, this is definitely not your game. D3 does not seem broken beyond repair, but I'm not sure Blizz is prepared to put in the necessary work. Some issues (e.g. map randomization) would be far too difficult to change at this point - developers have specifically said they will not be correcting this. Recommendation: check out D3 after it has seen a year or 2 of patching - it may be in a good state by then.… Expand

Diabl-WoW 3 : When a great game becomes a great chore. Grind grind grind. Well, grind again! Faster, you need money to buy stuff and you can sell stuff to make money. Money, money,money, bots, everywhere! Oh wait, where the fun again? Fun? What are you talking about, this is not a game this is a business. Forget about deep character devellopement and stiry, no time for that! Grind grind grind festival baby. Ah well, might just go back to D2 for some good fun. Waited all these years for that. What a shame. Randomized dungeons? Are you kidding me!? Not even close to D2. I played about 30 hours, Ive had some fun but not much. Time to go back to Indie Games. Big companies dont get it anymore, its all about money.… Expand

The game doesn't reward you at all. You have to play like 50 hours just to get a decent item you can sell for 20$. This is below the minimum wage in China. Blizzard want to turn their player base into a slave labor, so they can make out like a bandit. This game is work, it's not a game it's work.

After waiting over a decade for this game I could not of been more disappointed. The story is short, the grinding is long, viable builds are nerfed as quickly as people find them, you have to buy your high level gear in the Real Money Auction House, and gold/item farmers run the Auction Houses. It's a money grab by blizzard, and just a travesty of a game.

Ok I'm not even going to touch the abysmal dialogue or the bland characters or the storyline that's something out of Disney mixed with Power Rangers. This is a loot game, on with the gameplay.

Itemization sucks. It's very bland, nothing interesting. You're hunting for mainly 3 of the same stats for all your gear slots in order to be successful. If an item doesn't have one, most of the time it's complete garbage. The odds of an item rolling said 3 stats along with good value rolls on those stats are infuriating.

The difficulty is okay for Normal->Hell. Pretty easy. But the best stuff drops in Inferno, the gear-check difficulty. And if you don't have the gear with those 3 stats in all your slots you will get slaughtered. And chances are you won't have the gear. This is where the fun with the AH starts. You start buying gear for stats in order to progress, and that's where it stops being fun.

Inferno is not a challenge for the sake of challenge, it's a progression difficulty - a means to an end with cheap MMO mechanics built in like enrage timers and rez timers to make you either pull your hair out grinding earlier difficulties or use the AH. On that note, the loot that drops is not quality loot most of the time because of the sole existence of the AH.

Basically, it's a chore. A second job with no real rewards. You're grinding for uninteresting loot for that marginal .5% mitigation and 1% dps increase in order to progress to a later act. Once you do that, you face another brick wall. Gear doesn't enforce build diversity, and the cheap mechanics of "difficulty" shoehorn you into a certain build, narrowing build diversity even further.

Diablo 3 is not the wors game I've ever played. Diablo 3 is the worst letdown of a game from such a trusted company like Blizzard Entertainment. And I thought FFXIII was a letdown.… Expand

This game is reasonably entertaining for the first 20 hours or so (time for a run through normal->hell)

but after that it has quite literally 0 end game except for farming gold and buying from ah. In addition the combat is frustrating and progression is even more frustrating. Yes this is an ARPG that uses the term progression to describe you going through content. This game is essentially a single player top down version of WoW, Sounds like your kind of thing? Good, but not what the majority wanted from the successor to the greatest ARPG of all time.

Gets a 0 for taking money under false pretense of this being a sequel to diablo.… Expand

Too many nerfs and the auction house killed the game. Blizzard could just sll you any items they want throught the real money auction house and control the economy of it. Thank you Activision!

Most disappointing game I have ever played. I cannot recommend this game in its current state. Its fun going from level 1-60, but the end-game is the most terrible idea in gaming yet. The game engine purrs and combat is fun. I even enjoy the new build system. However, in the end the game feels like a scam. Every patch that has come out since release has made the game worse. You use to be able to find gear when you opened a chest but now that doesn't happen. You used to be able to die without paying ridiculously high repair costs, but now the game is nearly unplayable unless you farm for hours a day for gold or buy gold using real money in the RMAH (real money auction house). The drop rate of items is based of the AH(auction house with in game gold)/RMAH, so sometime in the middle of hell mode using the AH becomes nearly mandatory. By the time you get to inferno mode you MUST use the AH to progress, because the drop rates are abysmal. In inferno mode, with a level requirement of 60, monsters will most often drop gear less than 60 that is useless. The gear that is level 60 normally has useless stats that no one would ever want. People who succeed in this game use exploits in-game or in the AH. The game itself is filled with boters who exploit the AH and farm for gold. This makes gold prices on the AH ridiculously high, and making the game nearly unplayable for the average player. The abysmal drop rates, combined with the high repair costs all point players to the RMAH. The drop rate issue, along with the repair costs, and the RMAH have ruined the end-game. The game feels pay-to-win and this will only get worse once PVP is released (there is NO PVP currently) when people will pay $1000.00 to deck out their characters. The game feels more like a scam for your money than a form of entertainment. All my friends who were playing on release who have stopped playing. Besides all of the above reasons, cooperative (co-op) play is discouraged in the end-game as well. Even though its easy to join a game with your friends the massive HP boost the monsters get (110% per player joining) makes it more efficient to play solo. They used to get a massive damage boost too (which made it absolutely impossible to play co-op) luckily they removed that. However, there is a five buff limit in the game which a person could reach easily on solo mode. This means that the buffs you're friends give you will either cancel out a buff you wanted to have or have no effect. Likewise, any public game you join in inferno mode will 99% of the time end up facing a nearly impossibly randomly generated elite pack and thus dying over and over again... again increasing repair costs and making you farm lower content for gold to continue playing or paying real money for gold. There are more reasons I have no included like lack of PVP, consistent lag issues, no off-line mode, lack of customization, and lack of real randomization but I'll stop here. Basically, this game feels like a $60 scam to try to rip you off of more of your money. I have no confidence that they will improve the game. Look into other forms of entertainment for your $60. This is not the sequel to Diablo 2 we have been waiting for; It is the most disappointing game of 2012.… Expand

If you want an immersive ARPG, you've come to the wrong place. The design for this game doesn't lead to much. Artistic design, plot, game design, everything seems to be under par. Its impressive how they managed to through down the drain all that money, when an indie studio creates Path of Exile, a free to play ARPG. Go try it, and you will feel what immersion really is.

click the Ok button in the popup window "The game has ended"… Expand

I spent $100 on this game to play through alone and have a little fun. I trusted blizzard with my money and that's something I'll never do again. It is clear that Acti/Blizzard only care about one thing, protecting their product from pirates. They could care less about how much the DRM harms their community. If your game is actually worth $60, why are you protecting it from so many people who think it's not?… Expand

There's no excuse to buy a game for more than usual and be unable to play even the single player campaign due to terrible DRM design decisions. One of the most highly anticipated games ever and we have to put up with this? What's the point of having a release date if you can't play it on that day? There are companies that release good games that you can actually play when you get them so this is not par for the course, it's unacceptable for a company that has more money than god.… Expand

I was truely looking forward to this game but sadly due to the unstable servers and login errors it cant be enjoyed the way it should! and the lack that you cant customize youre own character makes me ver dissapointed

So im 7 hours into the game, and its not as good as everyone said. The story is pretty terrible (ok, its a loot game, so story is not THAT important), but what really bothers me is the graphics and the Sound. i have a pretty good PC and play on High settings. But come on! Have you ever saw Battlefield or even games like Anno (same perspective)? The worst thing is the cartoon style of the game, thats not dark and creepy like Diablo 2, its some kind of WoW colorful rainbow game. But the real Killer is the "always play online" DRM. im a single player gamer, i will never buy or sold any items, so why cant i just play offline? if thats the future of gaming, i will play NES again!… Expand

It is all about choices. Blizzard chose poorly: No offline mode, no staggered release, poorly updated customer service, and servers incapable of the capacity even on a Tuesday morning. Anytime I buy a game that I cannot play they get a zero, I will re-evaluate when I can play but this is your score for now Blizzard and you're decisions are why this review will get averaged in with the real review once the game actually releases. Poor choices Blizzard, very poor… Expand

Seriously, can I get my money back? Why would it be acceptable to charge $60 for essentially an unusable product? I was able to get in for a little bit, and based on that experience, even if I could log in, I would still want to try to get my money back. No skill point assignments, total handholding, a game that nowhere resembles the greatness of D1 and DII - Back to my original question, can someone at Blizzard please contact me about getting my refund?… Expand

Just.. just awful. Been a Diablo fan since '97, and this game couldn't have gone any more out of it's way to take what was a decent backstory and lore and make it the worst **** ever.
10 years development time, supposedly years of polish when the game was 'finished', and it still not only looks terrible even in comparison to Diablo 2, but there is just no content. Nightmare, hell and inferno don't add new content, just ramp the difficulty of the same content up, so when normal can be finished in 2 hours 3 minutes by a group of 3 guys with no prior knowledge of the game and no cheating, for a 10 year development cycle? That's **** abysmal.
Metzen has sold the same story 3 times over and people still buy it. If you want the industry to actually change and stop releasing ****ty games to cash in on every series that you once loved - don't buy this. The more you buy it the more they'll destroy every series known to man with ****ty cash in, no content games because they can get away with it.
That's not even getting into how stupid and manipulative the RMAH is.… Expand

Graphics are ok story is ok, but seriously taking your gamers like idiot and removing skills and statistics is a huge insult... And DRM sucks and only annoy legitimate gamers... I want my offline/lan game

Blizzard failed with D3. WIth the money they are raking in on this and other games, it's criminal that they don't put enough into the infrastructure of their servers to ensure a fun, consistent gaming experience. This game should have never required an internet connection in the first place, and the only thing Blizzard did well was showcase their greed with the decisions they made. D3 is too short, not varied enough, and the graphics are abysmal for a game released in 2012.… Expand

I think I know why they didn't want to allow people to play single player without connecting to their servers. They must have been afraid no one would want to buy it if they tried it out first. The new style of the game is crap, the awesome dark mood of diablo 2 has been done away with and replaced by wow graphics and artistic style. People complained about this very often on blizzard forums, especially after trying the beta. Many suggestions were made on how to improve the game but went by ignored by the developers. They also went through and removed as much choice from the game as possible. Sure there were problems in the previous iterations of the game but the new developers did not handle them correctly.… Expand

Although the game may have potential I like many cannot judge because it is broken and unusable. I have owned this, like many other honest gamers who have parted with their money, for a day now and I still cannot access. Nothing else but a zero is possible. Very sad.

Prepaid for D3. Downloaded in advance. Very disappointed. At best D3 will occupy a few hours of my time until Guild Wars 2 is released (hopefully June 26). D3 continually freezes, but ONLY with a LogiTech USB mouse plugged in, at least on my computer. Very strange, because a USB mouse is about the simplest device in the world. (Yes, my drivers are up-to-date.) Blizzard lied about having a "real money" auction house. As of now that's vaporware. Maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't. The game itself is generic. For those that don't know... There is no "character creation". Essentially this game is a elaborate random item generator that plays on the gambling instinct. The entire game is focussed on "drops". That's it. The "story", such that it is, actually slows down the only fun thing about this game: the item drops. There is no sense of connection to the your character. Every level is essentially an elaborate 'tube' that you have to walk through and survive. The other reviews that say that D3 is an unworthy sequel to D2 are 100% correct. The only decent thing about D3 is Matt Uelmen's soundtrack. The only reason I don't feel completely robbed out of $60 is that Matt is going to get a little piece of that. D and D2 were great because they were 'original', in the sense that it had a very unique and special feel. But D3 doesn't break any new ground, and it doesn't have the charm of D2. D3 is a lot like the latest Van Halen album. Tattoo is an old tired Van Halen trying to sound like they used to, and failing for subtle yet embarrassing reasons. Likewise, Blizzard is a tired old video game company, and D3 fails for similarly subtle and embarrassing reasons. In three months ArenaNet is going to own the world and D3 is going to be a footnote in the history of bad product launches. I'm giving D3 a score of 3, two points of which are awarded to Matt Uelmen for the music. Quite frankly, if I'd known a month ago what I know today, I would have simply purchased the D3 soundtrack CD and continued playing online poker until Guild Wars 2 goes live. D3 will be my last ever purchase from Blizzard. Today Curt Schilling's video game company went gone belly up in Rhode Island. I can only wish the same fate for Blizzard.… Expand

For me having to play it online all the time is a game breaker, have to fight with constant lag due to high quantities of ppl playing or trying to play the game to the point some spikes make the game crash. Art is ok but no near gives the feel of old diablo games and music and sound are close but not near the same atmosphere. In general the only thing i have liked so far is the voice acting and the fact that i was finally able to log in I hope they remove or add an offline function or i will have to stop playing since i cant handle the lag.… Expand

Being excited for another chapter in the Diablo world many people jumped at the chance to play this game. Only downside is that blizzard did not seem to consider this when it came to testing their game and working the bugs out that could potentially cripple their launch. As it stands D3 launch is a big failure on the part of a major game company. The need for constant DRM is the source of this downfall, why there is no offline mode is still not fully known past speculations but at this point it is crippling what has the potential to be a solid game. Sure the problems will more then likely be fixed in a couple of hours or days even but this is all stuff that should have been sorted through with more extensive beta testings. I'm a fan of diablo have been since the original but at this moment a dark mark has been left on Blizzards other wise pristine cover and will come into consideration when I look to pick up future Blizzard games.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The leveling of characters through 60 in normal, nightmare, and hell modes is quite enjoyable, which is enough to keep players occupied for many hours. Unfortunately this game falls short in the end game, story, itemization, and lack of offline play.

The story itself is uninspired with terrible dialogue. Anyone who was a fan of the previous games will literally cringe at the death of Deckard Cain, who is killed by a character attempting to get him to reconstruct a magic sword for her master. How exactly was he going to do that while dead? Why does she leave without the broken sword allowing him to reconstruct the sword? Why did this scene only warrant terrible dialogue and no real cut scene? Why does she abduct Tyraal instead of Cain? It makes no sense, and like the rest of the plot, reads like it was written by a 12 year old. Inferno mode is tedious and not fun. It consists of massive damage boosts to all mobs resulting in 1 shots to most characters attempting to enter it. Act 1 is playable because the zombies which dominate the act are slow moving, but upon entering act 2 be prepared for constant and unavoidable deaths no matter how well you play unless you spend tons of time farming or pay to win in the new real money Auction House, which allows players to turn an already paid for game into a micro transaction game. This feels like a way to milk the players for cash after they already spent 60 dollars on a retail product.

The statistics for your character are poorly explained in the interface, and some of them are not even accurately displaying what occurs in the tooltip, resulting in players gearing the wrong stat. Along with the poor explanations of statistics the itemization for legendary and set items is so terrible that most players choose common blue drops for weapons instead of legendaries. It makes the attempt to acquire gear feel boring and stale because the most rare drops are not even close to the most powerful. Players should not have the best chance of finding good gear when they look through their bags and read all of the stats on their found items, they should be excited as soon as they see the color of the very rare drops on their screen.

One last problem is the lack of an offline mode. This game could easily be played as a single player game and the previous Diablo games from 12-16 years ago allowed players to still experience the game without their internet connection being active. This removal of a key feature is obviously done in an attempt to prevent piracy, but is done so at the expense of their own paying customers.

If you want a good hack and slash leveling experience and to try out the customization of all 5 character classes then you'll have fun with this game, but in its current state the vast majority of players will not want to play this game for more than a few months once they've had their fill of the overly punishing and more importantly tedious end game.

Enjoyable leveling and character customization but poorly designed end game, bland and poorly executed story, incorrect itemization choices and explanation of statistics, and the removal of offline play hold this game back from being anything but just another fun but flawed game. This should not have been the case from a company as highly regarded as Blizzard.… Expand