Before we start on the article, let me introduce to you our guest blogger for this post, Mr. Mawe Barrios. Check out his short review on Diablo 3.

It’s practically impossible to give a comprehensive review of Diablo 3 right at this moment, seeing as how we’ve only played it for four to five hours. What we can do for now is to share a brisk narrative based on what we’ve observed in the game so far and (hopefully) build on that later on.

With that out of the way, here is the first thing I can tell you about Diablo 3. Complete, utter chaos. But this is not about the game itself. If you haven’t heard already, the launch of Diablo 3 was utterly and completely spoiled by the total lack of preparation on Blizzard’s part.

To their credit, Blizzard took action as fast as they possibly could and pulled in as many servers as they can conjure up to accommodate the throngs of enraged players. The good news is that Diablo 3 is now ready to take on all comers, but Blizzard is still hedging its bets by saying that they are still “keeping an eye out” for more problems which are likely to crop up.

But enough about the launching day woes. Diablo 3 looks to redeem itself by offering a very satisfying gaming experience, as expected. I especially loved the combat system, although the skill system has a rather steep learning curve. If you’re an absolute beginner, Diablo 3 can be a bummer, but veterans will be able to jump in right away learn the newer aspects as they go.

But I did observe a rather upsetting thing. It seems as if the skill system in Diablo 3 has been bumped up to the point where your weapon is becoming more and more useless as you level up. There are lots of powerful skills to earn even at the lower rungs of the leveling ladder, so much so that using your weapon can sometimes feel like a hindrance instead of an advantage.

I also don’t like the idea of using the auction houses. I decided to buy an axe to see how it could affect my character and my gameplay, and I got the most powerful one that was available for my current level. After spending some time with this new axe equipped, I discovered that I couldn’t pick up anything else that could come close to this auction house bad boy. The loot system in the game will almost certainly be rendered impractical and meaningless by buying your weapons in auction houses.

*gameplay video during beta weekend*