Is Diablo III Blizzards next Game after WOW?

[Mithrandir]

They call it "The inaccuracies of nostalgia."
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Perhaps. The point stands that Diablo 2 was sorely lacking in areas that Diablo 1 excelled in, which ended up detracting from the overall game, however... and with the people gone who made the original, it seems unlikely that we will ever see the return of the aforementioned missing aspects.

[nobbie]

1) Why keep it quiet?
2) Do they have the personnel for it?

1) The hpye-machine is currently fully adjusted for WOW ;)

2) Yes, I think that after the WOW launch, more people will be available again. And if not, they can just hire new ones :)

[Baajikiil]

Were these even popular at the time?  I can remember really enjoying them, although I remember little about the actual game. :)  I don't remember them being particularly big names... did a lot of lurkers play them?
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Don't know about "a lot of lurkers", but I played them. I played the EOB series as they came out, and spent alot of time on them. I still like playing them now, but I've pretty much exhausted the replayability.

EDIT: It can also be a pain getting them(and those pesky gold box games) to run the way I want them on to modern systems.

[Lady Vashj]

Perhaps. The point stands that Diablo 2 was sorely lacking in areas that Diablo 1 excelled in, which ended up detracting from the overall game, however... and with the people gone who made the original, it seems unlikely that we will ever see the return of the aforementioned missing aspects.
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Namely, that fantastically creepy atmosphere. Starting in the Labyrinth, all the way to Hell (which redefined my image of the place), that atmosphere of darkness and encroaching evil never let up, not even in town, really. Diablo II just had nothing like that atmosphere. Diablo II is not really the stuff of nightmares (unless those nightmares involve losing that WF you tried so hard for so long to get, in which case, you got problems).

[Minionman]

Namely, that fantastically creepy atmosphere.  Starting in the Labyrinth, all the way to Hell (which redefined my image of the place), that atmosphere of darkness and encroaching evil never let up, not even in town, really.  Diablo II just had nothing like that atmosphere.  Diablo II is not really the stuff of nightmares (unless those nightmares involve losing that WF you tried so hard for so long to get, in which case, you got problems).
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That's sort of what I personally like about the atmosphere in D2. Only ct 4 may be really creepy, but the acts have there own atmosphere which helps put some variation in the game.

[Archon_Wing]

The Battle.net populace would give anyone nightmares. :)

[apandapion]

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.

Just because that's the most vocal aspect of the Diablo 2 community doesn't mean that it's where the money is at. For most people I know, Diablo 2 got a lot of attention for a month or three, then became a lan party classic "someone be a paladin! not it!", then faded into nothing. I get a lot of "you still play that?" in most places if I bring it up.

For every one "i can't wait for the new ladder season so i can be the first to score the phat loot in hell diff", there's about a thousand people who bought it, installed it, played through each act (maybe swapping characters a few times), uninstalled it, and moved on to the next big thing.