Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls - now's the time to return

Blizzard's ARPG has evolved into a work of art. There are skulls. Crush them.

I barely have any frame of reference to write this article. Having only run through the Diablo 3 campaign three times after launch in 2012, I went back because I was bored. Destiny's going through something of a bizarre disaster at the moment, meaning it has nothing new to offer long-term players I can honestly see glowing radials behind the words. Turns out I didn't understand what Blizzard was doing with Diablo 3 way back when, and now the auction house has been junked let's not money-grab never good for anyone by God and the focus is purely on kicking f**k out of endless things leveling so quickly I went from thirty-eight to fifty in about three hours although there seemed to be so little challenge. My Witch Doctor, Jethrine, was walking through Master difficulty advancing a dozen levels with only two deaths but remember I was so bored and it all flashed pretty colours and then I thought oh right yeah this is why I stopped playing. Then I hit 60 because that seemed like a goal a thing to do and as soon as I'd done that I closed it down but went back the next day bored again something of an affliction and bought Reaper of Souls to raise the cap to 70 wasn't compelled by Paragon. Five percent thing three percent that. No. But a new class and new levels and of course having hit 60 with a single character I was then able to start on Torment difficulty and now I see how the game was meant to be played. I can't stop.

Don't f**k with me.

That's the thing I'm writing a new book and it's getting in the way a little. Not completely and I certainly don't feel the same addiction I felt with Destiny last year thankfully that's gone now probably less sticky because of the social element I don't get together with anyone in Diablo to raid but that may change with Adventure mode. The real end-game some of the gear looks ridiculous, I mean I was quite proud of my Witch Doctor's kit but really I'm just beginning. Having the compulsion and the space to restart something like the fact I can just switch it off after playing an MMO yes Destiny's an MMO for hundreds and hundreds of hours because you don't want to let anyone down, right. If you commit to a raid you commit to a raid and you can't do a bit and then sign off you can obviously but it isn't fair to the others. With this I turn it on and hit stuff then turn it off at the next checkpoint or not Fiona just sees another excuse to not get it done. Blessed relief holy damage.

1. There are so many skills to try, an infinite combination of Passive and Active Bottom and Top. You will be dead before you exhaust each class and its possibilities.
2. Do you want to kill a thousand spiders and then some more spiders I mean why not.
3. That hit loop is completely nailed and the checkpointing means you can't let go. Diablo 3 is the enemy of sleep.
4. Instant gratification. You press the button and everything gets hit and it feeds stuff into the hitzone.
5. A Tormented Crusader is the best Crusader.
6. Haven't tried a Seasons character or looked at Adventure mode yet.
7. The way you look up at the screen when a gold, legendary item drops.
8. But I think they key element here is the awesome factor, simply how awesome things get. Diablo 3 gets awesome. The Crusader, for example, has a skill called Comdemn. This starts as a circular explosion takes three seconds to charge. The second rune sucks enemies towards you as it builds. Pretty awesome. The third rune allows the explosion to detonate instantly without any charge. If you combine this with passive abilities accelerate cooldowns you're just wasting hordes of Torment-level nutters in a display so ludicrously satisfying I could barely get this piece written there's even a legendary shield called Frydehr's Wrath removes Condemn's cooldown entirely just spam explosions forever and ever and ever.

Seriously. If you haven't played it for a while, or you didn't bother upgrading to Reaper of Souls when it launched, now's the time. Regardless of the state of the games of others, Diablo 3 is a must-play. Again.