Way back in 2004 on the heels of playing in the World of Warcraft beta I recounted for my brother at a family dinner that it was all the things we loved about Diablo 2 and so much more. He wasn’t sold until the Burning Crusade expansion three years later, but in 2023 I’ll stand by my rudimentary description of an MMO. Before talking about my recent time with the beta lets jump back in time again.
In 1994 I was a freshman in high school and brought home maybe 4-6 floppy disk that contained the shareware version of Warcraft 1. To a house with no computer that could play it mind you. I went and installed it and played it at a friends house. Warcraft 2 dropped a year later and I played the hell out of it on our families first “modern” computer. 1997 came along and I got my first job at a pizza shop. That summer while wrapping up an evening shift one of the guys on the line started telling me stories of the Butcher. The first challenging boss in a new game he was playing. The next day I went out and bought Diablo and was floored. The makers of fine RTS products had captured my mind with their first RPG.
Back in the present and I have played countless hours of Diablo 1, 2, & 3 and the expansions. I have a nostalgic bias, but the tempered skepticism of an adult burned not once (the initial Diablo 3 release), but twice (Diablo Immortal) by this company and this franchise. So far though the beta for the fourth game is holding up. It is still Diablo, but looks great, is packed with voice acting and interesting side quest, and has world events that bring you together with random players. The proof of how long I will play it will be in how well they stick the “end game” landing, but so far so good.