Not sure where all the hate was coming from. Granted I didn't play the older ones, but most of the complaints seemed petty. So far I have put over 100 hours in and I don't see me stopping anytime soon. Right now I have a witch doctor level 60 paragon 7. Just farming for keys and trying to get into end game stuff.
I've played all of the Diablo games and I think Diablo 3 is amazingly beautiful. However, it definitely falls short of its predecessors. First of all, the game worlds are way too small and there are too few places you can go to before finishing up an Act. Second, the zoom-in to your character feature is pointless. Not only can you not play the game in that mode, but the textures look pixelated up close. Lastly, the game only allows you to join parties if you add people to your friends list. It's an unnecessary nuisance. In Diablo 1 and 2, the game felt epic. In Diablo 3, the game is pretty but feels like I'm in a glass bottle.
A lot of the hate came from when the game was first realeased and there were major issues. The game has improved a but and hopefully they will perfect the game with the new expansion.
I think it's wonderful, as well. But to be honest, it's the only Diablo that I actually played for a considerable amount of time, so I don't really know.
When Season 1 RoS came out, I played the crap out of Diablo 3 I'm talking hundreds of hours (350+) in the first 6-7 Weeks my Witch Doctor was Top 5 for the longest in NA but I think what really made me not like D3 was the ridiculously long season 1 and the horribly dry seasons 2 and 3 to follow up, and then to top that off I kind of started exploring other ARPG's and once I got into PoE I kind of felt like D3 was far too easy and MUCH like a console oriented ARPG, which just wasn't what I was looking for but I can at least say that RoS gave me my moneys worth of gameplay
Well here is the story as to why all the hate was there. The staff team that did Diablo and Diablo 2 were fired and then they made D3 with a whole different approach and if you have played the older ones it just doesn't have that "Diablo" feel to it. I thought it was alright, but when I was playing they had the AH going so it was kind of "Eh" heard they took the AH away, so maybe it's a lot better now. Plus I really wasn't digging some of the powers the elite mobs use, you can literally get one shotted.
So far I love it! Though I will admit that I'm not very far. I like the graphics, and so far the story line. A friend and I will throw the game in and will take turns playing it. He loves it and plays it far longer than I do. As far as how it measures up to its predecessors, I would agree with some of the above statements. The others had a lot more to it. I totally agree with the "glass bottle" comment.
D3 is a game I should definitely go back to... In my opinion, D1 and D2 were unbeatable, and reshaped the dungeon-crawler RPG to what it is today. The features in the latest addition just doesn't seem as well thought out, or fleshed out for that matter, and it disappointed plenty of fans. That being said, Blizzard listened to its customers and completely delivered with the latest expansion! They removed the AH (which I actually enjoyed, but that's neither here nor there), and gave greater content, filling in the gaps of what was there before. I love the paragon edition, as it extends the gameplay value immensely. Overall, I'd say the game grew to be a decent title in the series, after some reworking.
I was fairly put out in the beginning by the massive amount of negative reviews but I can see Blizzard kind of saved the game now. I am going to keep an eye on the price, if it drops low enough I'm willing to give it a shot
Server issues, terribly implemented auction shop. The biggest negativity wasn't really about the game itself, but rather everything around it. Well, the story is kinda campy, but it's a staple of Blizzard's writing. Some people didn't really like how leveling was simplified, but personally I'm ok with that and enjoy Diablo III very much.
