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As it was confirmed by Blizzard during the Anniversary stream that killing Malthael released Diablo Prime, as opposed to the individual Prime and Lesser Evils;

"After the death of Malthael, the combined Prime Evil Diablo was released, rather than the individual Evils"

Am I the only one who is kinda let down by this? I was sort-of hoping the next expansion would be all about dealing with all the Evils (seeing Mephisto and Baal in D3 graphics would be pretty sweet), instead of killing just Diablo for the 4th time.

Is there any way, from a storyline perspective, for Diablo to be made into such a threat that players can ignore the fact we've killed him so many times with next-to-no drawbacks?

I agree this was a big let down for me, I really love the variety of all the evils being everywhere.

Just the lord of terror, which we faced so many times already returning is kinda dull.

I would love to fight Mephisto and Baal again. Hell, I'd enjoy killing Andariel and Duriel awing as well. I hope they find a way to incorporate them.

Agreed, especially considering that Diablo looks like a woman now. Never was a fan of the svelte and feminine Diablo, even if there is a storyline reason for it.

Kinda disappointed with this too.

They wasted what seems like a good opportunity to make the story evolve again. I mean, it could have been a good idea to make them with new power / form now that they have been merged for a time.

If there's one thing we know about the Prime Evils, it's that they are constantly scheming against each other for supreme dominance. I wouldn't be shocked to learn that such a conflict is currently raging within Prime Evil Diablo, so how about a fight where during each phase one of them assumes "control" of Prime Evil Diablo's body/appearance, allowing us to fight all the Prime Evils in one epic battle?

Edit: I also want to add that from a storytelling perspective it is totally normal to go back to the "original" villain in the third act, so it kinda does make sense for Diablo himself to return for the "final" kill in the last part of Diablo III. Also, will there even BE a Diablo IV? If so, probably not for 10+ years at least. If not, then it's extra important that the last boss ever in the series should be Diablo again.

Quote from Zhaph

If there's one thing we know about the Prime Evils, it's that they are constantly scheming against each other for supreme dominance. I wouldn't be shocked to learn that such a conflict is currently raging within Prime Evil Diablo, so how about a fight where during each phase one of them assumes "control" of Prime Evil Diablo's body/appearance, allowing us to fight all the Prime Evils in one epic battle?

With Diablo being the last form... Yeah that would be great ! And killing them is re releasing them all.

But i REALLY fear that the next expansion will be on a diablo / imperius merge or something BAD like that. (we fought demons then angel then angel and demon mixed ?)

The next xpac/sequel will probably revolve around the choice the nephalem have to be good or evil and how dangerous that would be to the angels and sanctuary. Some nephalem will most likely go bad and do a "zoltun kulle"-ish thing trying to become a god.

All-out war between nephalem is not unlikely from what I can tell. We've afterall fught diablo many times and different versions all the time; D1 weak Diablo, D2 stronger Diablo, D3 Prime Evil Diablo. Next Xpac we will fight the strongest being(s) of Sanctuary - the Nephalem.

It seems very obvious to me from a story perspective that this is to some degree the direction Blizzard will take.

Edit:
Now that I came to think more about it we might see a nephalem trying to "fuse" with Diablo in some way possibly through the use of a new soulstone and hereby creating a super powerful nephalem infused Prime evil Diablo to wreak havoc on sanctuary. It would be a cool fight at the very least

My theory on the next expansion:

Diablo will free Inarius from where Mephisto has kept him for all these years. Diablo will use Belial's powers to mask himself as someone that Inarius would trust. His freedom will be awarded in exchange for his willingness to bring back Lilith to Sanctuary so they can use the nephalem to destroy heaven and hell. Throughout the story, you will be following a storyline that makes you walk the line between hero and villain. In the end, your character sacrfices themselves to stop diablo a "final time." Unfortunately, the power you release to kill diablo just separates the evils from Diablo as the Prime Evil, which is what Lilith was planning the whole time.

Flow:
1. Diablo releases Inarius.
2. Inarius works to release Lilith.
3. Hero kills Inarius but it's too late, Lilith returns.
4. Lilith hides and build nephalem army using a worldstone artifact. Much of heaven and hell are destroyed.
5. hero finds lilith after battling through the army and kills her.
6. Diablo reveals himself and uses Lilith's knowledge to give himself the power of the nephalem. The hero sacrfifices him/herself to 'kill' diablo.
7. Nephalem's (the hero) powers rip prime evil diablo apart and release the remainder of the prime/lesser evils (as well as diablo).


Now you are set up for a clean slate in Diablo 4.

I thought that we'll have Duriel, Andariel, Baal, Mephisto and Diablo released, not only "Uber-Diablo-aka. Tethamet". I'm looking forward to see Lilith and Inarius, it'd be a great experience... Anyway, I'd like to be in the "Hell" also, we could break Inarius free from his prison. Maybe even HE and Lilith will help us with "Diablorius(Imperius+Diablo, lol, I think it's kinda logical, because they both want to see the Nephalem dead)". There are so many posibilities. :-)

Quote from Zhaph

If there's one thing we know about the Prime Evils, it's that they are constantly scheming against each other for supreme dominance. I wouldn't be shocked to learn that such a conflict is currently raging within Prime Evil Diablo, so how about a fight where during each phase one of them assumes "control" of Prime Evil Diablo's body/appearance, allowing us to fight all the Prime Evils in one epic battle?

Edit: I also want to add that from a storytelling perspective it is totally normal to go back to the "original" villain in the third act, so it kinda does make sense for Diablo himself to return for the "final" kill in the last part of Diablo III. Also, will there even BE a Diablo IV? If so, probably not for 10+ years at least. If not, then it's extra important that the last boss ever in the series should be Diablo again.

Things could have changed, but the company line from early on was that Diablo 3 will wrap up the storyline started by Diablo 1 (the prime evils trying to corrupt the nephalem/Diablo's scheme to become the one Prime/Diablo becoming Tathamet again/whatever), but it would not be the end of the Diablo universe.

The problem i have with the imperious/ Diablo merging theory is that, sure, imperious hates the nephalem but he hates demons even more. I don't see this happening.

Quote from Thornagol

My theory on the next expansion:

Diablo will free Inarius from where Mephisto has kept him for all these years. Diablo will use Belial's powers to mask himself as someone that Inarius would trust. His freedom will be awarded in exchange for his willingness to bring back Lilith to Sanctuary so they can use the nephalem to destroy heaven and hell. Throughout the story, you will be following a storyline that makes you walk the line between hero and villain. In the end, your character sacrfices themselves to stop diablo a "final time." Unfortunately, the power you release to kill diablo just separates the evils from Diablo as the Prime Evil, which is what Lilith was planning the whole time.

The only other thing I would throw in is Leah. Was it Shen who hinted that her soul could be saved? I think that'll occur somewhere in the next expansion. Close the knot around the sack a bit tighter. Go for the feel good salvation moment. Replete with cheese.

You guys need to understand that at this point players(nephalem) starts to be really really powerful, and letting us fight the lesser evils that were already beaten would be just stupid. Unless you somehow want to really push it...prime lesser evils...what? Next expansion will be all about how nephalem evolved to this being above angels and demons. pvp expansion?