With the news of Diablo III being in development, I've been wondering how Diablo would be like if it was turned into an MMO. I have many fond memories from the classic Diablo, it was revolutionary and one of its kind when it came out in 1997. When you think of it, Diablo II came out in 2000, "merely" three years later, that is pretty awe-inspiring for being a Blizzard title. Usually they take quite awhile to release their games. To me, three years is a short development time for being made by Blizzard. Perhaps the development of Diablo II had already initiated before Diablo came out? Either way, this is not the main topic of this article, it's how Diablo would be if it was unleashed as an MMO.
The dark-fantasy theme of Diablo is in my opinion a great environment for an MMO. As for the story, its based on the war between heaven and hell. Something you can expand on pretty much endlessly. There's another game that has the whole theme of "heaven and hell" -- which is Aion. It's far from as dark and grim as Diablo, though.
Having the central starting location for most players to be the town of Tristram that so many players have fond memories would be a great beginning. You can easily expand on that by adding quests and endless of dungeons to explore. It also reminds me a bit of the MMO Mythos. Made by former Diablo developers. There's randomly generated dungeons and many different ways to get items, and you can also do quests.
I think if Blizzard put their resources into developing a Diablo MMO using the very nice 3D engine they showcased with Diablo III and took some of the ideas from Mythos, it would turn out great. Consequently, much lore exists to expand on the Diablo franchise and having a more darker and grim MMO would definitely be a change of pace. Especially, since most MMOs these days are bright and colorful. When I think of the darker colors, Darkshore comes to mind. First time I entered that area after leaving Darnassus, was great. It felt darker and I thought to myself 'wow, Blizzard really know how to get the setting and environment to match'. Sadly, World of Warcraft is overall way too colorful if you compare it to how the general design of Diablo is. Many argue that Diablo III is too colorful as well, but I disagree. The colors used is just fine, and I'd love to see an MMO made out of it.
Wouldn't it be great to adventure into the Catacombs and perhaps even eventually Hell? In addition, having a different gameplay pace, with more action related clicking to kill instead of using ways too many different abilities? Yeah, I believe so too. Mythos has done a decent job at it, but we all know that if Blizzard worked on this (especially with the new engine that showcase Diablo III) it would almost be a game to die for.
What are your thoughts on this? Would you like to see a Diablo MMO or is Diablo III well enough with Battle.net support and extra features for cooperative play that will be released further into the future?
