Diablo 3 Preview

So, if you hadn’t already heard, Diablo 3 is in the works, and by the looks of the most recent screenshots and videos things are moving pretty quickly. While we already known a great deal about the game, the biggest question…and most opened ended is still out there, what type of game is diablo 3 going to be like?

For starters, Diablo 3 is NOT an MMO. The game is being developed very similar in play style to the original Diablo 2. While it will have much more polishing, details, and complexity in character development, the simplicity of the game will still allow any type of player (casual or hardcore to enjoy it).

Diablo 3 will not have a monthly free. With the announcement of the game, Blizzard also revealed that the game will be on Blizzard’s legendary network, battle.net. This means the game will be entirely free to play, simply plug and play till your heart’s content.

And now, a few rapid fire comments on what we already know.

1. There will be 5 Diablo 3 Character Classes, 2 of which have already been announced, Witch Doctor and Barbarian.
2. Diabo 3 will retain it’s old random environments and map generation.
3. Players will be able to choose their classes gender, unlike Diablo 2 which forced a gender upon a class.
4. Old friends and foes alike will make an appearance in the game, Deckard Cain has already been announced.
5. While the new world is called “Sanctuary”, players will still venture back to old world locations like Tristam.
6. The game is structured in such a way that you could level up solo, or with a group of friends.

and the big one…when will diablo 3 be released?

Officially, Blizzard is saying nothing, but in my personal opinion (and the backing of multiple insider sources), the game should release sometime between Q2 and Q3 of 2009.

Diablo 3 Barbarian Video

Since Diablo 3 was official announced game play videos have been pouring in. This video features the completely revamped Barbarian class clearing through a dungeon. Overall the footage just looks amazing, if blizzard had said they were just a couple of weeks from releasing the game I would have believed them.

The video showcases many of the barbarian’s skills and attacks, as well as the destroyable environment, interactive aspects of environment, quests, NPC interaction, gear, use of skills, character movement, as well as a pretty good look at the Diablo III user interface.

More on the interface…while it looks similar to the interface in diablo 2 it’s clear there have been vast improvements in the fluidity and customization of the action bars. You can now seamlessly change what abilities are located in each hotkey, which is presumably bound to a desired key.