Shinier and newer, Diablo 3 has a multitude of fans who claim that any reason you prefer Diablo 2 over 3 is because you’re living in the past.

They’re wrong.

Other than a little aging, graphically, the gameplay and a few other concepts are better than anything Diablo 3 has to offer. Concepts built on Diablo 1 & 2 are completely left out and somehow Diablo 3 just doesn’t feel like it’s in the same series.

It’s boring after a few hours, while Diablo 2 keeps you up all night.

Below you’ll find some more ammunition for your forum debate next time a Diablo 3 fan boy opens their mouth.

1.PvP and Ganking:

Do you remember PKs (Player Killers)? PKKs (Player Killer Killers)?

If not, they’re the tangible fear of leaving town. They’re other players who aren’t interested in defeating the three prime evils; they just want to kill other players.

A player initiates PvP in Diablo 2 (D2), without the consent of the victim that player has chosen to attack. If you’re simply in town, click the swords by the person’s name, and now the duel won’t stop until both players agree.

Welcome to the Thunderdome, no flag dropping, just ear collecting: Diablo 2 only serves street justice, not any of the ceremony.

Though at times brutally frustrating, it was revolutionary, creating another level of replayability and challenge to D2 that is completely missing from Diablo 3.

Diablo 3’s PvP is watered down: It can only be initiated as duels between party members that mutually agree or via a vendor NPC in town for Arena PvP. Boring.

It seems Blizzard would rather we play a second-rate MOBA, like Heroes of the Storm, than enjoy one of the best aspects of PvP they pioneered in Diablo 1 & 2 than in it’s newest iteration Diablo 3 (D3)

2.Character customization:

The permanence of Skill choices upon leveling up in D2 means each skill tree had to be carefully crafted to allow for flexibility later in the game.

Other than permanently leveling up your character’s attributes (Strength/Dexterity/Vitality/Energy), each of the classes’ respective skill trees had to have more than one way to viably beat the game.

This makes every skill have impact and usability in most situations, a trait they’re missing in D3.

D3 is solely based on your character’s level: Every skill and passive the level allows can be switched, as long as you’re out of combat.

This freedom of choice unfortunately allows for lackluster skills and passives that are mostly looked over by the player.

3.Builds variation:

D3 only offers 1 or 2 builds that run at full efficiency during endgame rifts and dungeon grinds. Even then, most classes won’t have the staying power at Torment that a top-tier Barbarian has.

D2 offers a multitude of builds for every class that operate well at higher difficulties and conquer the endgame.

Do you want to summon an army of skeleton soldiers and mages like Evil Ash from Army of Darkness? Summoner Necromancer can make that happen.

Do you want Thor’s blessing and easy gameplay? Hammerdin, the legendary farming build is right up your alley.

D2 late game also allows for further customization of characters and classes in the form of Charms and Runewords.

4.Charms & Runewords:

Left out of D3, Charms and Runewords in D2 further tweak and empower your Nephalim to new heights of power.

How?

Each specific Charm or Runeword is used to be the finishing touches on a build. The Charms confer a multitude of different benefits from standard resistances, damage, to even turning your Ice Sorceress’ damage up to 11.

Runewords are socketed into Charms, like gems, and buff the stats on the item.

They also gave the item a cool new nickname, like “Bonesaw” or “Shortchange”, without the need to use a Wu-Tang Clan name generator.

5.Items and Loot:

D3 is a DPS calculator: There is only one set that is truly viable for late game builds and grinding. D2 has a variety of weapons, items, and sets that work well in the late game. They buff skills, empower your summoned minions, and more.

Instead D3 simply makes the best armor have bigger stat numbers, and in the Neo-Blizzard artistic fashion make the shoulder pads ridiculously big.

Like in World of Warcraft. Wow.

At least in D2 there’s variety in which set is most effective, they even created a set that is only dropped in the secret Cow level, allowing for udderly unbelievable item drops.

Milking each dungeon for all the loot until the cows come home.

D3 instead created a multitude of trash sets, probably to fuel the failed real money auction house.

Even the Cow level in D3 wasn’t as much fun.

Also where is Wort’s Crutch?

6.Developer Exodus from Blizzard:

The atmosphere in D3, artistically, suffered due to the toxic atmosphere at Blizzard. Most of the original teams that brought us WarCraft, StarCraft, and Diablo are no longer working at Blizzard.

Long story short, Activision executives fired a few developers and their teams quit in solidarity.

Have you ever wondered why World of Warcraft wasn’t anything like they advertised before it went into Beta?

It’s the same reason every new version of their core games only build on old innovations instead of revolutionizing the genre.

It’s visible in D3: In the direct contrast from D2’s dungeon layout and RNG.

The bright cities and pearly heavenly gates in D3 look like concept art from Torchlight drawn to look a little more realistic and gritty.

The medieval horror ARPG title we had all come to love was suddenly full of Disney-esque forests and waterfalls.

What happened to pigmy blow-dart mobs in a dark foreboding jungle you ask?

Activision turned Diablo, a work of art, into a deposit only ATM that requires Internet connection.

7.Offline:

Another simple concept completely left out from D3.

Activision like other big name videogame publishers worries about DRM, and this probably is the reason why this was left out.

This also leaves out the gamers who don’t have steady high-speed Internet connection.

It also disregarded LAN multiplayer games, which weren’t a staple to enjoying D2, but were a welcome feature for the social gamer.

Want to mod the gameplay to D2?

Want to skill train your Necro to the point of lagging out your system with the number of skeleton minions on screen?

Want to enjoy a single player campaign on an airplane or any other instance you’re without Internet?

D2 respected your choice, and allowed you to enjoy the game no matter where you are.

8.Difficulty:

D3 feels like D2 with training wheels until upper level Torment difficulties.

With no PKs running around to ruin your day, the only fear D3 kept from D2 was ridiculously powered rare mobs:

Getting blown up by “Suicide Bomber” rare mobs the second you open a dungeon door. BOOM.

(Image acquired at https://us.diablo3.com/en/blog/16071431/the-waypoint-week-of-september-22-9-26-2014)

Maybe it’s a nod to original Resident Evil, giving us an unhealthy fear of closed doors.

Maybe the game wants to punish players for grinding Torment.

Maybe it’s time to play D2 and enjoy Baal, Pit, Countess, Chaos, or Cow Level Runs.

9.Trading:

The economy and trading in D2 blows D3 out of the water.

D2 features trading between players, not in a market place or party like D3.

You can grind the game to find specific loot, or trade for it with a kind friend or stranger.

Or you could pull out your credit card to pay real money for an item that is easily found in game like D3.

You could just farm the gold in D3 to purchase the item as well.

Adventuring in an ARPG shouldn’t feel like an Amazon shopping experience.

A decade and change later D2 still features a strong economy, something D3’s real money market place and economy will never be able to match. Even convincing a stranger to duplicate an item for you in D2 is more rewarding and challenging than spending real money on an item or purchasing it from D3’s marketplace.

10.Rooms:

Rather than simply just starting to play the game online automatically, like D3, Diablo 2 features rooms.

These rooms are like a Battlefield server list, you know what you can expect from jumping into the game just from the title of the room.

Are you looking for “Endless Baal Runs” or “Hardcore PvP Only”?

No matter what you’re searching for in Diablo 2, you can either browse the rooms, or create one of your own.

D3 completely circumvented this simple aspect by automatically connecting players to their own room or party member’s room.

11.Story Progression:

In D2 the writers lay the groundwork for the Diablo story rather than Diablo 1 (D1).

The story in D1 wasn’t much more than running down into a dungeon and killing everything that looked at you.

D2 gave us backstory and character development, suddenly we knew how important Deckard Cain really is, how important all the NPCs are to the lore.

Though D3 did build on the lore from D2, the only reason we have it to begin with is because of the innovations from the D2 development team.

Would you have really cared as much when Maghda kills Cain in D3 without the development and NPC carryover from D2?

Probably no, you would’ve just missed the guy who identified your items for you.

12.Casual vs. Hardcore:

D2 forces players to learn the game, because of the depth of character builds and late game items (Charms and Runewords).

The rewards earned online can come from chatting it up with another player for trading or grinding dungeons until the specific item dropped.

Hard work can pay off in the form of shouting at 3am and waking up your neighbors when Tyrael’s Might drops, an item with a .00002% drop rate.

D3 is the drive thru version, order the item you’re missing and pay at the window.

Easy concepts in builds, every skill being unlocked, and quick rewards will quickly take any value from the gameplay.

Because the challenge and fun of the grind is all an ARPG’s gameplay truly has.

13.Innovation in the ARPG Genre:

The Horadric Cube in D2, our favorite EZ Bake Oven for items, is easily one of the most memorable items in the game. Available to every player, as it’s a quest item, it’s also crafting and some good old RNG wrapped in a fancy metal box.

Original in function, true to the RNG nature of ARPGs, the cube represents a new take on an old idea: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse.

Like a philosopher’s stone turning lead to gold, it turned trash loot into something usable.

D3 developers took this to heart and recycled all the character classes from the two previous games. Instead of ground breaking Necromancers and Druids, or hybrids of Diablo 1 classes like the Amazon, Barbarian, Assassin and Paladin in D2.

D3 is nothing but a mediocre modern D2 clone.

14. Diablo 3 and ERROR 37 (AKA Worst Launch in History)

The launch was so buggy it has it’s own category of meme, and is widely regarded as the worst AAA title release in recent memory.

(Image obtained at http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/05/16/diablo-3s-best-error-37-jokes)

15.Staying Power:

Almost 2 decades later and the Internet never forgot about D2. Fondly spoken about, even by D3 enthusiasts and developers, the game is easily one of the best games ever released. The ARPG genre hasn’t forgotten about D2 impact either, as most new ARPGs are marketed as Diablo 2 successors over D3. The D2 community still is strong, they’re still playing, why haven’t you joined them yet?

Thanks for reading! Did we miss anything? Disagree or agree with anything? Please comment below and let us know!

The post 15 ways Diablo 2 is better than Diablo 3 appeared first on Yesgamers Blog.