I’m an avid Diablo 3 supporter and I frequently check to see if there is any news on a development project for the title but time and time again I have been shot in the face (metaphorically) by Blizzard who seem to like messing with my mind. It’s sad that a game company has the power to do such a thing but we all accept that Blizzard isn’t just any old game company.

Diablo, Diablo 2 and Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction are three of the best RPGs to ever be made. Lord of Destruction added more to Diablo 2 than most expansions do to games. The only other example I can think of is Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark (which just made that game for me). Despite having this massively successful title sitting on the desk at Blizzard HQ, they don’t seem to want to throw us a bone…ever.

New artwork has been appearing on the Blizzard website of Diablo. Legendary Pictures had a brief moment of Diablo on their homepage. There was that business with the Diablo 3 Europe domains. All designed to create hype even though Blizzard knew they weren’t going to be announcing anything. It is probable that they won’t announce anything Diablo until BlizzCon next year. All we know is that there is a third title in production and also that they are working on a Next Gen MMO. World of Diablo anyone?

So let’s look at this. World of Warcraft is getting old. Its graphics are dated and even MMOs only have so much playability. Once they get to a certain point you have to say, “Right! That’s it! Let’s move on!” Despite this however, Blizzard say they will be releasing an expansion per year until they feel it is not economical to do so. Could this be a hint from Blizzard that they are fully capable of and will be ending World of Warcraft at some point? Again, possibly. You never know with Blizzard.

So, we have one dated MMORPG that has a finite life span and one massive RPG title that Blizzard haven’t touched in the last 6 years. We also have job adverts for the team behind Diablo 1 and 2 and a team working on a next gen mmo. One and the same? Pfft. Don’t want to think about that. Have to but don’t want to.

Another interesting comment by Blizzard was that Warcraft 4 could be made after Starcraft 2 has been released. Could this be another hint that they are preparing to shut down World of Warcraft and move on? They could set Warcraft 4 far enough in the future to allow for WoW to continue or even set it during the events of World of Warcraft.

Ah the possibilities. Pointless speculation always makes me want to cry. It will be interesting to see what happens but there are plenty of things to think about over the next coming months.