Just passing its fifteenth anniversary, the Diablo series has become known as the quintessential loot grabbing dungeon crawling RPG on the PC. With only two formal releases, the third installment of Diablo is set to come out this year from Blizzard. While fans of the series have clamored for more, they also know that Blizzard is not a company to rush a game if it isn’t ready and have earned a reputation for quality because of this. As a result, Diablo III may be the most anticipated game of 2012.
Returning from Diablo II will be the Barbarian, the game’s standard melee class but with a reworked skillset. Also in the melee vein will be the new Monk class. The Wizard will debut similar to the sorcerer from Diablo and sorceress from Diablo II.
New to the series will be the Witch Doctor, similar in playstyle to the Necromancer from Diablo II and a new rogue-like character known as the Demon Hunter possessing ranged abilities, traps and evasion tactics.
The point and click hack and slash adventure will feature an all new auction house where players can buy and sell goods for both in game currency and real life dinero. Yes, that means in order to combat gold farmers from selling items and loot on eBay, Blizzard is going to be taking a piece of things for themselves and allow players to determine the game’s real world economy. Expect some people to try and make it big and get rich quick in the early days of the game after launch.
The events of Diablo III will be taking place twenty years after those of Diablo II and revolve around two of the surviving lesser evils, Azmodan and Belial, and a mystical item known as the Black Soulstone in the world of Sanctuary. Deckard Cain, who appeared in the previous two titles, along with his niece Leah will be two of the main NPC’s players will encounter in the game.
Check out the latest story trailer from the Spike VGA’s last month for Diablo III, set to release on PC from Blizzard during the first quarter of 2012.
