DiabloFans

I was listening to some Diablo music and reminiscing about the good ol' days when my brother and I first purchased Diablo and began our descent into Hell, he as the Warrior and myself as the Rogue. Or one summer many years ago when one of my friends and I played through the game start to finish one weekend, I think.

I started playing it again a few months ago and had some fun for a while, but can see why the modern gamer wouldn't necessarily enjoy some aspects of it.

The core concepts of it are excellent though, just going down this labyrinth, beating the Hell out of demons and undead and using their living Light-damned guts to grease the links of your chainmail.

What would you think if Blizzard made an expansion/add-on for Diablo 3 that was an upgraded Diablo using the D3 engine? It could be a stand-alone game and/or integrated into Diablo 3, allowing you to use your D3 characters to play through it if you want to. (Kind of farb, but hey, would add some content and sort-of new locales)

Pros

• It would add three new classes, for use in the Diablo portion and/or D3:

Warrior - a Strength based, sword and shield focused character.

Rogue - a Dexterity based archer character. (Obvious problem with this would be Rogues are from an all female organization. The male version could have a 'thief' background like the Scoundrel I suppose.)

Sorceror - an Intelligence based caster, focused on elemental magics.

• It would possibly add another 6-10 hour campaign, with Nightmare/Hell/Inferno available. (I honestly have no idea how long it took to beat that game, or how much time could be cut off by being able to move at D3 speed/kill rate)

• It would have random quests, and quests that actually give pre-set rewards. (These could be like 'legendaries' with some random stats, encouraging multiple playthroughs to get a 'good one', or completely pre-set stats. In any case, they should be account-bound, and possibly have upgraded versions for each difficulty)
• It would let new-comers to the Diablo series experience the original without being off-put by 'archaic' features of the original

Cons

• A lot of the gameplay features might not translate over, like Staves, any character being able to use magic, stat point distribution, etc.
• The atmosphere would not be the same in 3D.
• Would possibly lose the epic feeling of exploring the dark labyrinth. (Remember finding the Butcher for the first time?)
• It likely would not have all the charm of the original.
• There would be massive raging if it wasn't 100% true to the original, especially if it used the new skill system, automatic stat points, lack of potions/scrolls/staves, etc.
• None, or very few if any, of the original guys that made the game are still at Blizzard, leaving it in an entirely new set of hands

Probably some more pros and cons but that's about all I could think of.

My brother and I would probably get it, more-so if it was connected with Diablo 3 since it would add some 'new'ish content and bring back a cheerful memory from the past. (Without trying to find one of my current friends willing to endure some of the antiquated systems of Diablo like no running )


Alternatively, it could be included as a small 'DLC' type addition. Diablo: Aidan's Tale.

Adds two new classes, the Warrior, a Strength based, sword and shield focused character, and the Dark Wanderer, a Strength based, demonic and unholy power user. The Dark Wanderer is only unlocked after completing the game on Normal.

When you first start out, you have to start as the Warrior/Aidan. Finishing the game on Normal as Aidan will unlock access for all other characters on your account. (If it's tied in to D3 anyway, and not a completly seperate product)

Instead of being a direct copy of Diablo, this game would focus on the life of Prince Aidan as he fought in Westmarch and returned home to find the life he knew is gone.

First Act would be fighting alongside Lachdanan and co. in the Khanduras-Westmarch war.
Second Act would be returning to Tristram and descending down the catacombs until you fight Lazarus.
Third Act would be the descent into Hell and the final battle against Diablo.
Fourth Act would be following Aidan as he became the Dark Wanderer, and would include a boss battle against Tyrael.

Followers would be the Rogue and Sorceror, with Marius in Act IV.


Edit: Fixed up poll, never set up a multi-questioner before.

Diablo 3 was backward-looking enough as is. Act 1 is almost entirely D1 homage. Time for some freaking new settings already. Like Xiansai or whatever.