Hey, I'm a lurker who has recently registered to commemorate the announcement of Diablo 3. I think it was obvious (or at least wishful thinking on all our parts) that all the clues leading up to even the months before today's World Wide Invitational were hints at Diablo III.
My personal thought process went:
1) Alright so Blizzard's first major series was Warcraft. They did three generations of Warcraft RTS, with War3 being one of the premier RTS games ever made along with Starcraft. After developing WoW and its MASSIVE success, and announcing the 2nd expansion, I think its safe to say their unannounced project wasn't going to be Warcraft IV or yet ANOTHER WoW-related game.
2) After announcing Starcraft 2, the only universe left to elaborate on was Diablo.
3) When they made the splash screen, I was almost 99% sure it was Diablo 3. The WWI website had Diablo II listed as an official game that they were covering in Paris. Why D2? Although it remains a classic, its far from competitive on a global level and Blizzard hasn't done much with it in the recent months. The ice was to throw everybody off, unless it's revealed to be the "Hell has frozen over" theory which could be possible. The Worldstone that divided Heaven and Hell is destroyed, thus Hell could have been exposed to the world and "frozen over". Personally, I think those eyes on the splash belonged to Tyrael.
4) What remains a mystery is their "Next-Gen MMO". I think most of us assumed Blizzard was crafting another MMORPG after the success of WoW in the image of the World of Sanctuary, taking the universe of Diablo and adapting it to an MMO-style architecture. While monthly subscriptions do incur many benefits, they also ensure the gameplay continues to promote long grinds and goals in order to keep players playing. Anyone with experience playing WoW knows the long grinds associated with Blizzard's MMO (which is also present in most other MMO's - it defines the genre). With Diablo 3, I'm happy that its an action-RPG instead.
If Diablo 3 isn't their next-gen MMO, could we possibly see Blizzard making a frontier into a Starcraft MMO, something people have drooled about ever since they found out another MMO was being developed? We can only speculate, but for now lets enjoy the fact that Diablo 3 has been in production for years and looks promising.
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My personal thought process went:
1) Alright so Blizzard's first major series was Warcraft. They did three generations of Warcraft RTS, with War3 being one of the premier RTS games ever made along with Starcraft. After developing WoW and its MASSIVE success, and announcing the 2nd expansion, I think its safe to say their unannounced project wasn't going to be Warcraft IV or yet ANOTHER WoW-related game.
2) After announcing Starcraft 2, the only universe left to elaborate on was Diablo.
3) When they made the splash screen, I was almost 99% sure it was Diablo 3. The WWI website had Diablo II listed as an official game that they were covering in Paris. Why D2? Although it remains a classic, its far from competitive on a global level and Blizzard hasn't done much with it in the recent months. The ice was to throw everybody off, unless it's revealed to be the "Hell has frozen over" theory which could be possible. The Worldstone that divided Heaven and Hell is destroyed, thus Hell could have been exposed to the world and "frozen over". Personally, I think those eyes on the splash belonged to Tyrael.
4) What remains a mystery is their "Next-Gen MMO". I think most of us assumed Blizzard was crafting another MMORPG after the success of WoW in the image of the World of Sanctuary, taking the universe of Diablo and adapting it to an MMO-style architecture. While monthly subscriptions do incur many benefits, they also ensure the gameplay continues to promote long grinds and goals in order to keep players playing. Anyone with experience playing WoW knows the long grinds associated with Blizzard's MMO (which is also present in most other MMO's - it defines the genre). With Diablo 3, I'm happy that its an action-RPG instead.
If Diablo 3 isn't their next-gen MMO, could we possibly see Blizzard making a frontier into a Starcraft MMO, something people have drooled about ever since they found out another MMO was being developed? We can only speculate, but for now lets enjoy the fact that Diablo 3 has been in production for years and looks promising.