Diablo 3 Expansion

Last August, Activision/Blizzard announced an expansion for Diablo 3, as expected, at Gamescom in Germany. Closed beta tests for "Reaper of Souls" started this past December, and the release date is currently set for March 25th.

 I found Diablo 3 to be an underwhelming experience. Without an abiding love for Diablo 1 or 2, there was not much to enjoy in 3. One playthrough of the campaign was not enough to lift a character very high in level, and the prospect of replaying levels over and over again seemed pointless to me. Maybe it was my predilection for fully exploring each map on my first time through, but I just did not feel compelled to try any of those levels again. And, really, what would have been my reward? The same enemies taking longer to kill? No thanks. I was promised a loot-fest, and I got a gear grind.

 It was seeing the Cinematic trailer which got me thinking about this post. I find everything about this trailer enticing: the characters, the narrative, the swords, the angels and the demons. It's everything I love in the fantastic and, yet, I will not be buying what it is trying to sell me.



 Because when I watch the Blizzcon trailer, I see that the new expansion will be nothing more than I have come to expect. Let me be clear, I don't prefer isometric views or click-to-run control schemes and that, more than anything else, saps the fun from Diablo 3. With this in mind, I could hardly expect to see something inviting in a gameplay trailer. Now, with that being said, the expansion looks like it would disappoint me in much the same way that the vanilla game has. I do not see the story, which I find compelling and interesting, taking on a more prominent role or playing any important part in the gameplay narrative. I was underwhelmed to play a game of trash-trash-boss before, and I won't pay for the privilege of doing it again.



Games like Mass Effect have spoiled me. When I play a game that's about a story, I want to see my actions having consequences. I want to talk to other gamers about what they found, how they made their decisions, and where their story took them. From a game design perspective, that makes a game excruciatingly complex and difficult to build on--which ought to be the hallmark of a triple-A title. It is in this respect that Diablo 3 fails most profoundly in my eyes. There is an illusion of false choice (class, skillset, etc.) coupled with an expectation to feel challenged to complete higher difficulty settings. Difficulty settings are for bragging rights, which I don't care to have, and a game selling itself on its narrative ought to better engage the player with it.