Now that we have 1 more level of difficulty, besides that 3 that we had on Diablo 3, I suppose the game is gonna last a lot longer. Especially if we start seeing those immune kind of monsters. Gotta love a physical immune, sparking, extra fast zombie, when you are a barbarian.
D3 will definitely be longer than D2. When developers say it's "about the same length" regarding a sequel they're pretty much always wrong in my experience. Especially compared to older games where they don't throw as many barriers in your way. I mean in D2 you can basically run through an entire act and not complete any quests until you need to unlock the boss in A2 and A3. In the others you can just keep going. You can get to Diablo in A4 in about 8 mins of running, if you really want to.
I'll try to avoid plot spoilers but from datamining/previous D3 vids it seems for A1 we still have to (dunno the order):
Go through the jail areas and see the Leoric background lore as depicted in the Blizzcon 2010 stuff. See the queen get chopped, fight the Warden, etc.
Go to the Fields of Misery, Festering Woods, Drowned temple, recover several quest items.
Take the boat to Wortham.
Go through a giant spider nest and fight a boss there.
Go through the two highland overworld areas.
Go into Leoric's manor and down into the multi-floor torture chamber dungeon shown 3490726 times in Blizz clips.
Another factor is that A4 in D3 is super short. Three quests, only 5 overworld maps, a handful of superuniques. From datamining we already know that D3's A4 will be much bigger than that, if still shorter than the other D3 acts as a means to focus the story to the dramatic conclusion (as a blue commented upon once).
A lot will depend on how they structure the plot trinkets. If they're commonly found in random dungeons like the crown then it could take a lot longer than D2. Another factor is that Blizz seems to be working hard to make you want to explore side dungeons with resplendent chests and side-quests that cover the ground in loot. Whereas in D2 it could be fun to explore all the side dungeons but until they did the lvl-85 areas like 6 years after the game came out there wasn't much of a reward for doing so, other than the exploration factor or checking in on bosses like Cold Crow or Ancient Kaa the Soulless.
Speaking of which, you can look at superunique bosses as a very rough proxy.
Diablo 3 Beta SUs:
9 total
1. Sarkoth (Dark Cellar)
2. Wretched Queen
3. Captain Daltyn (I know the spelling is supposed to be old tymey but it reminds me of a yuppie soccer mom's kid)
4. Mira Eamon
5. Manglemaw
6. Lord Dunhyld -- ghost woman quest
7. Chancellor Eamon -- for the crown
8. Jondar, I mean JONDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR
9. Skeleton King
And that doesn't count easter eggs like the Data Miner or Lloigor the Crazed. Add those to the total if you want.
Diablo 2 Act 1 SUs:
14
1. Corpsefire
2. Bishibosh
3. Bonebreaker
4. Coldcrow
5. Blood Raven
6. Rakanishu
7. Treehead Woodfist
8. Griswold
9. The Countess
10. Flamespike the Crawler -- removed in LOD but I'll count him anyway.
11. Pitspawn Fouldog
12. Bone Ash
13. The Smith
14. Andariel
I'll try to avoid plot spoilers but from datamining/previous D3 vids it seems for A1 we still have to (dunno the order):
Go through the jail areas and see the Leoric background lore as depicted in the Blizzcon 2010 stuff. See the queen get chopped, fight the Warden, etc.
Go to the Fields of Misery, Festering Woods, Drowned temple, recover several quest items.
Take the boat to Wortham.
Go through a giant spider nest and fight a boss there.
Go through the two highland overworld areas.
Go into Leoric's manor and down into the multi-floor torture chamber dungeon shown 3490726 times in Blizz clips.
Another factor is that A4 in D3 is super short. Three quests, only 5 overworld maps, a handful of superuniques. From datamining we already know that D3's A4 will be much bigger than that, if still shorter than the other D3 acts as a means to focus the story to the dramatic conclusion (as a blue commented upon once).
A lot will depend on how they structure the plot trinkets. If they're commonly found in random dungeons like the crown then it could take a lot longer than D2. Another factor is that Blizz seems to be working hard to make you want to explore side dungeons with resplendent chests and side-quests that cover the ground in loot. Whereas in D2 it could be fun to explore all the side dungeons but until they did the lvl-85 areas like 6 years after the game came out there wasn't much of a reward for doing so, other than the exploration factor or checking in on bosses like Cold Crow or Ancient Kaa the Soulless.
Speaking of which, you can look at superunique bosses as a very rough proxy.
Diablo 3 Beta SUs:
9 total
1. Sarkoth (Dark Cellar)
2. Wretched Queen
3. Captain Daltyn (I know the spelling is supposed to be old tymey but it reminds me of a yuppie soccer mom's kid)
4. Mira Eamon
5. Manglemaw
6. Lord Dunhyld -- ghost woman quest
7. Chancellor Eamon -- for the crown
8. Jondar, I mean JONDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR
9. Skeleton King
And that doesn't count easter eggs like the Data Miner or Lloigor the Crazed. Add those to the total if you want.
Diablo 2 Act 1 SUs:
14
1. Corpsefire
2. Bishibosh
3. Bonebreaker
4. Coldcrow
5. Blood Raven
6. Rakanishu
7. Treehead Woodfist
8. Griswold
9. The Countess
10. Flamespike the Crawler -- removed in LOD but I'll count him anyway.
11. Pitspawn Fouldog
12. Bone Ash
13. The Smith
14. Andariel