Blizzard Why do you Torment Me (Diablo 3)

Oh Blizzard you unstoppable colossus of gaming innovation and excellence you. Why do you torment us so with pushed back release dates, April’s fool jokes and decade long waits between sequels?…Oh yes I remember now because your simply the best at what you do and what you do is create absolutely immaculate games. Sadly Diablo 3 will be no exception to this long standing tradition of standing up your loyal fans as they wait for you at the restaurant…(much like every guy I have ever met). However, unlike them you, darling, are always worth the wait. Even if you show up long after the restaurant has closed perhaps even shut down after a three year depression you can be assured that we…the loyal and somewhat groupie esque fans we are will still be waiting. Now on to the actual article!

Diablo 3 the long anticipated sequel in the Diablo series has been 10 years in the making since the release of Diablo II back in 2001. All signs and previews of this game have pointed to one word that describes this game and that word is….PINEAPPLE!...wait I mean EPIC. The first two Diablo’s were original and cutting edge for their time and quite fun in general. The dungeon scroller format had a somewhat interesting though albeit convoluted story. Originally scheduled for release some time in 2011 it is interestingly enough absent from Blizzards sells projections for this coming year. *Cues the dramatic music* This can only mean one thing my fellow gaming aficionados. Blizzard has once again stood us up and moved back their scheduled release date. I know I know, while this fact is not concrete evidence of this dastardly truth you must admit that the fortunes do not favor its release this year. However, along with this morbid and downright depression inducing news there is a twinkle of hope still on the horizon.

Instead of talking about Blizzard’s gross lack of time management skill (or perhaps their mastery hype) let us as an alternative talk about what they have changed in this game as compared to its archaic prequels. Diablo being as old a game as it is had 2 widely complained about flaws that inhibited the game play…these two missing gears in the cogs of destiny were no other than a cumbersome skills system and somewhat annoying looting scheme. Much like the disease that Megan Fox has contracted these two problems took a beautiful creation and reduced to mere eye candy instead of mind blowing experience…ok so a night with Megan Fox might still be mind blowing and worth it for some of you but you get the point. Allow me to drag you back from your transformers fantasy and let us now discuss how Blizzard in their infinite wisdom and majesty has fixed these Gripes!

Gripe 1 Spells and Abilities System

If you take the time to remember 8-10 years ago when you played Diablo II you would remember the absolutely stunning skills , spells and abilities layout. O come on you remember spamming the left click to shoot your fireball at the approaching horde of goblins and right clicking to cast your pew pew AoE spell? For the most part is was sufficient but on the off chance…. say you need some kind of other spell for I don’t know…perhaps, healing, summoning or running away like a scared little girl (what I do best) well my good sir why don’t you open up your spell book and set it to one of those two buttons while the Goblins naw off your legs. Well good news my fine multitasking compatriots Blizzard has finally decided to let you make the number keys useful in this game. Taking a page from Satan’s book *cough cough* I mean WoW’s book they now have skill bars!...and Numbers it’s all about the biggest numbers! Sorry I digress. Happy Happy Fun Time! This way you can actually use more than two spells without having to switch out your skills manually. Instead you just hit the hot keys or roll your mouse scroller up or down.



Gripe 2 the Looting System

Shinny Shinny Shinny! Who doesn’t like picking up a few shinny pieces of coin after deep frying a giant oger. In a way it your only visible reward for killing that dam beast that took you the better part of 15 minutes and 23 potions to kill. So gallantly you walk back over to pick up your prize only to be mowed down by a group of randomly generated mobs because you cant click fast enough! Yes, readers that is right one of the biggest complaints about Diablo II was having to click to pick up your loot. Le Sigh. Its kind of a sad day when we, as a population, find it too much work to simply click a pile of gold on your screen to pick it up. Yes, I understand how much more mind numbingly easy it is to auto loot but that being a main complaint on a game that is being designed by blizzard…come on they pretty much set the tone with macro’s and auto looting. I mean you couldn’t have picked something else to harp on like the fact that you pretty much need to lug a chest of potions with you everywhere you go in the previous game to get anywhere...alive…or maybe complained about the overall lacking pvp experience of the other games?...no the best you got is I can’t bend over to pick up my gold…well perhaps I need to skimp on the meat the next sandwich I make for your guys cause that’s kind of ridiculous. On a side note the stuff I just mention was fixed as well. Watch the video for a pvp overview. I must say it looks kind of WoW esque which is a good thing.



So overall I the Newest and Nubbliest member of the O and E am excited to see how this new feather in Blizzard's cap plays out!