Games of 2013: Diablo 3 console

[Administrator]

Diablo 3 was supposed to be my game of 2012, but it wasn't. As a recovering World of Warcraft player, I thought its accelerated, flamboyant grind would be just the lightweight substitute I was looking for. I'd been following its development for years and already knew how fun it was to play. I was convinced this would be a long-term affair.
I thoroughly enjoyed the game on release and reviewed it very well, despite its troubled launch. The always-online requirement didn't bother me. The auction house was easy to ignore. I wasn't troubled by the slow loot progression at the endgame... because I never got there.
After four years of anticipation, I fell out of love with Diablo 3 in four weeks. I still liked and respected it, I just didn't want to be with it any more. The obvious culprit was the stingy and flavourless loot, but to be honest that didn't really occur to me at the time. Was the game too fast or too slow or too easy? Had it been balanced with too little care, or maybe too much - every system so well oiled and working so frictionlessly that you might as well not be playing it at all? Perhaps. I couldn't put my finger on it.
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