Will there be any real difference between Diablo 3 and World of Warcraft?

Oh yes, most certainly. The gameplay is totally different, and they seem to generally have stuck with the formula from Diablo II. Which incidentally was one of the greatest games of all time.
Diablo is much more friendly to casual gaming sessions, and you will not need to spend several hours each time you go on a raid. It is also much more geared toward single player, although the multiplayer will likely be great as it was in DII. Forming ad hoc parites should be straightforward and easy.
Needless to say I’m extremely excited about Diablo III. I cannot recall having looked so much forward to a game in many, many years.

It’s funny you mention that because I loved Diablo 2 and for the brief time I played World of Warcraft, it always reminded me way more of Diablo 2 then of any Warcraft games.

That’s why I was wondering how they would differentiate Diablo 3, since I saw WoW as the spiritual successor to Diablo 2, but maybe I was wrong in that assessment.

I’ve only played WoW for a short while, but never really saw the similarities. There are some similarities, as with the focus on gathering stuff and levelling up, but that’s as far as it goes in my opinion.

Orc’s vs Diablo!

Just saw this:

Diablo 3: What We Know So Far
http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=909

Well, the biggest difference I assume, is it doesn’t require a monthly subscription to play. Beyond that, it is set in a different world. And, to my eyes has a different feel visually. My children and I had a look at the gameplay trailer over the weekend, and I was pretty sold on it right then and there. Also, if I remember right, the Diablo series is much more a point and click style of game.

Yes, Diablo should be a lot simpler. But once you really get into it, it will take a lifetime to master. As for pay to play that hasn’t really been decided yet, although it will run on BattleNet, which is normally free.

It’s also great for family gaming (though be adviced that it will be rated M). A friend of mine and his wife were both really into it, and they recruited their children to gather items for them :-) The whole family got hooked on it. A lot better than watching tv in my opinion.

In fact, I’m not sure I’m all that impressed, from the looks and feats specified on the shacknews site that Jbor posted about earlier.

Sure, newer and nicer graphics is always nice. But definitely not superior to the quality of a game, in my opinion.

There is a horrific example that comes to my mind. Remember Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn? (One of the greatest rpg games I’ve played, with a really non-linear plot and different game endings, and an overall “magic” vibe going on, despite sluggish graphics).

Some years after BG II, there came about a follow up version (well, in this case, I guess, it was more a question of being developed on license from the original brand owners). I don’t remember its name, but it was for XBox and I bought it… played it… and it sucked big time. Fully linear story to begin with. Go from point A to point B. Nothing to be left for the imagination.

I’m not saying this has to be the case with Diablo III, but it didn’t look like it’s bringing many new novel ideas to the table, something I think the current gaming landscape suffers from. Graphics and cinematics certainly isn’t what I, for one, am looking for.

I think its still really early in the release. We will see a lot more new features once the release date gets closer. Blizzard dosent make crappy games. I’m a fan of all of them and the world of Diablo is my fav. It caught me from the first one. And I’m sure this one will as well.

Funny you should mention Baldurs Gate II, makemo. That’s probably my all time favorite game. And yes, the followup on the Xbox sucked. Thing is though, I would gladly play both Diablo and Baldurs Gate again if they improved the graphics, added another story, and changed little else.

What I’m most afraid of with regards to Diablo III is that they change the formula to drastically. The team who created Diablo II left to make (the not so successful) Hellgate London, and the new team might miss what made DII such a great game to begin with. But from what I’ve seen so far they seem to stay loyal to the franchise.

I’m wishing there could be more randomness in games.

Often when I see fancy graphics, I get the feeling that the landscape will never really change. For games like Diablo II, it would add another dimension if the landscape was generated and places weren’t where they used to be, last time you finished the game. (At least this goes for single player mode. It would perhaps be too hard to implement in multiplayer.)

They’re putting even more emphasis on random level generation in DIII that in DII. Even the scriptet event are supposed to be randomized this time around. So hopefully your wish will come true :-)

In the meantime, I can recommend the (more low-budget, but quite nice indeed) shareware game, Depths of Peril (Mac/PC), $19.99.

I’ve been demoing it for a while now, and I really like it. It’s way and way random, with lots of replayability. Reviews have been very good for this game also.