But.. Can it live up to the hype?

[rufioman]

Either way this game won't bomb so I'm going to say yes, emphatically even. I played the Old Republic since launch and am not bored yet with that if it means anything.

[z00t]

Well, tbh, there is not much expectations to live up to... It's not like the most other games with their "revolutionary feature of doom" that ends up being some sort of half-broken gimmick.

This game is about killing stuff in all kinds of ways and getting loot with 5 classes. It's not like they promised us to deliver a star from the sky (we still get one, though).

To me, the skill/rune system (no attribute points, freespec) and the RMAH are all 'revolutionary' features for the action-rpg genre. All the clones before D3 just did the same thing more or less with some gimmicks.

I think that D3's fundamental changes to the genre just don't get as much press because people have this mindset that Blizzard can't possibly innovate - all they do is 'refine'. Even though I'm pretty sure that people are going to be copying Blizzard's design decisions with D3 in the years to come :3.

[digitalforce]

The think that gives me the most hope is that the beta is so limited in both content and scope, I am hoping the full game comes all together..

[MoneyMike]

That's the real question eh? I feel like the huge popularity of D2 is both a blessing and a curse for D3. A blessing, in that there is a ton of name recognition. A curse, in that nothing short of the second coming would be enough for some of us diehard fans.

I started thinking about this during the open beta weekend. About 20 minutes after I started playing, I got this feeling of 'meh...'. Looking back, I don't think that feeling had anything to do with the game itself. I'm pretty sure it was just because I've spent so much time following and thinking about D3, that the fact that it didn't clean my floor while simultaneously massaging my neck AND dispensing loot somehow disappointed me.

The game definitely grew on me the more I played though, and by the end of the weekend I was more excited than ever for the launch.

[Wolfpaq777]

I can't wait to do skeleton king normal mode once with 5 classes and then NEVER have to kill him again.

Regardless of the hype, the fact that this is soon to be a reality makes me smile.

[Artemis]

Some people are really excited about rushing to the later difficulties.

But for me, I'm looking extremely forward to just taking my time and enjoying Normal on my first playthrough. I'm really into the lore and the universe, and the buildup to D3's story is one of the exciting things for me. On Normal difficulty, I can focus on the story and 'feeling' like a really powerful hero. I feel like in many ways, Normal is the 'true' experience.

In the later difficulties, I'll need to be 'gaming the game' a lot more in order to survive, if you know what I mean :P. The immersion isn't quite the same. Sorta like how you have to lure away those Minions of Destruction in Act V of D2 away one by one because you can't take them all at once. It kinda breaks the immersion for me :P.

I agree completely. I will probably still be in Normal while others are auctioning their Inferno loot.