Is Diablo III Blizzards next Game after WOW?

[JustAGuy]

If Diablo 3 really is in the works (even if on the most basic of design levels) I would hope that they could go back and capture what made the original Diablo a great game. Granted, Diablo 2 was a decent game, but what made the original great was the atmosphere and various other intangibles I, admittedly, am at a loss to put into words at the moment.

Diablo 2 improved on the original with skill trees (though the vast majority of skills were poorly balanced to varying degrees at different points in the game) and more classes, but was a major step backwards in other areas.

The possibility of this happening seem  minimal though with most of the original Blizzard North members moved on by now.

I just pray that Blizzard doesn't get anymore caught up in the current MMOG bubble anymore than it already is and delivers a good solid non-MMOG Diablo game.
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As far as game quality goes, Diablo 2 was on par with, if not superior, to Diablo 1. Balance = not so much. Then again, Diablo 1's balance wasn't all that balanced...

The production values of Diablo 2 are partially what make Diablo 2 so good. Despite it being limited to 640x480 (and later 800x600), it was a great pick-up-and-play game; it looked good, sounded good, played good. Add to it the multiplayer elements, and the treasure-hunt elements, and you have one damn addictive game.

That addictiveness is what Blizzard would do well to replicate. To keep people playing, it's the "I have to run Meph one more time..." or the "I need to kill Baal one more time for that Windforce...", type of obessive compulsive, addiction inducing gameplay elements that give Blizzard big sales. They make the most money by making the most addictive game they possibly can. In Diablo 2, it was so addictive that some users bought 2, 3, 4 or more copies (I bought TWO, four all together, two D2 and Expansions) to maximize gameplay.

What's Blizzard's goal with Diablo 3? To make money, obviously. Sure, they want their games to be top-notch, otherwise they would lose sales on the come-back (put out a crappy game, and no one wants to buy Blizzard products anymore).

So there are a few of things we can assume of Blizzard:

1. There will be a Diablo 3. It makes sense; the money is there.
2. Diablo 3 will be very polished, and they will attempt to balance it, but most likely will fail initially. Starcraft was perfectly balanced, all other games not so much.
3. Diablo 3 gameplay will incorporate some sort of treasure hunt style gameplay. That's what Diablo has been all along, anyway. Kill a boss, get some loot.
4. It will have mutliplayer. What kind, is up to them.

From what I've seen of Guild Wars, that's what Diablo 3 COULD be, or even SHOULD be. If they did a Guild Wars type of massive game, would that be so bad for Diablo 3?