There are still people out there with no intention of playing Diablo 3. These are the folks content playing games like Skyrim, World of Warcraft, Angry Birds and Starcraft II. I’ve played the beta enough to have a pretty good idea how the final game is going to play out and its my conclusion it’s going to be a big hit with or without you. So let’s take a look at the case for why they should play Diablo 3, and save yourself the grief of being a late comer.
It’s Free
Diablo 3 is pretty much free for people who are already playing World of Warcraft. All you have to do is sign up for Blizzard’s WoW Annual Pass and you will be able to download and play Diablo 3 on launch date at no extra cost. With this gesture, you are promising to keep your WoW account active for another year. Personally, I haven’t cancelled my WoW account since November 24th of 2004 and have no intention of doing so anytime soon, so Diablo 3 will be 100% free for me to play.
You’ll get paid to play
If you’re one of the first people to plop in front of Diablo 3 and start hacking away at the levels you’re going to make at least a pretty penny or two. Consider that in the first months after release there are going to be droves of new players joining the battle. The late comers are going to want to catch up fast and some of them will be willing to pay you for what you have already earned. If you resist the temptation to level your artisans you will be able to sell all of those Tomes of Training you find. The same goes for all those extra rune stones and gems you don’t use, the junk parts and rare crafting materials you find while scavenging them.
Even if you sell all the crafting materials you find as you progress to level 60 and eventually into the Inferno difficulties of the game, you’re going to have some pretty bad ass equipment worth at least something to new comers. Diablo 3 players, especially early comers, will always be able to ‘cash out’ their accounts relatively easily and 100% legally through Blizzard’s Real Money Auction House.
You can’t lose!
Starcraft II has an amazing match making system. It determines your relative skill and pits you against opponents that equal your skill. If the system works and if you play relatively consistently your win/lose record should be about 50/50. This doesn’t mean you’ll lose a game, win a game, lose a game and then win game; it tends to work out so that you lose 6 games in a row and then win 6 games in a row . At least this is how it’s worked out for me in random team leagues. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time enjoying a game when I get served too many death-dealing Banshees too many games in a row. Sure, I’ll remember next time to build Overseers sooner but the damage has already been done to my ego.
In Diablo 3, you basically can’t lose. Sure, you’ll struggle pushing the minions of hell back on each new difficulty level but as the minions get strong so do you. Similar to World of Warcraft Blizzard intends to make almost all game content available to everyone one way or another.
Indefinite and optional progression
I haven’t beat World of Warcraft yet. Despite the fact I’ve been playing for over 7 years now. I think there was only one player who earned every achievement, which is about as close as you can get to ‘beating’ the game. I’ve stood over the Lich King’s dead corpse and even had a hand in slaying Deathwing but there is still plenty to do. Blizzard has a knack for designing games that can’t be beaten. Diablo 3 is one of those games. Sure, you can try to max out all 5 character classes with legendary gear from the end of Inferno mode. You can even try to deck that gear out in L14 gems and full enhancements. You can try to complete all the achievements Blizzard has promised us and even become a gem-tychoon on the realm money auction house. But I really doubt you’ll finish it all before Blizzard releases the next expansion :p
The progression that Blizzard has worked into Diablo 3 is amazing. 6,500 L5 gems to make a single L14 gem? Salvageable runestones for enchanting materials, 4 tiers of difficulty, random enhancements, random stat bonuses on crafted gear, 3 account-wide artisans with 10 trainable levels… it goes on.
Hopefully this is a convincing enough argument to encourage you to join me in the depths of hell.
Important: Many of the strategies and tips I share here were originally inspired by the people at the Diablo 3 Gold Secrets Forum. If you're serious about making the big bucks in Diablo 3, or just being the best players, you need to signup ASAP.
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