It has been 20 years since Mephisto, Diablo, and Baal were defeated in the events of Diablo II. However, the Worldstone, which was the world shield from the forces of Heaven and Hell, has been destroyed and evil is again at work in Tristram.

In the upcoming release from Blizzard, who are bringing you World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King in two days, comes Diablo 3. Players will take up arms as one of five character classes, such as barbarian, witch doctor, or wizard, each equipped with an array of spells and abilities to explore Santuary and battle legions of demons in order to save the world. New customization options will provide for an even greater level of character specialization than the previous Diablo games, allowing the player to create unique characters brimming with power.

Blizzard describes the details:

Diablo III will benefit from Battle.net upgrades that will provide some exciting new features for players. Cooperative online play remains a primary focus, with multiple enhancements being planned to make connecting with your friends easier and cooperative play even more fun.

With regard to the multiplayer component of Diablo III, the emphasis will be on cooperative play, but we will also include support for competitive play. What form that support will take is still being discussed, but we are being careful to avoid features that can easily lead to griefing, such as the ability to go hostile at will.

Players will return to Tristram and certain other locations from the previous games and they’ll also be exploring new areas of Sanctuary. Players will also encounter several new characters as well as a number of characters from the previous games including Deckard Cain.

Our plans for the story and quest mechanics are still under wraps. We’ll go into detail on those elements of the game at a later date. We can say, however, that we expect to have class-based quests in addition to the main story-line quests.

Diablo III is powered by a new graphics engine that can display characters and hordes of monsters in lush, fully 3D environments. Powerful special-effects systems and Havok-powered physics allow for realistic object dynamics and cloth simulation, and enable players to lay waste to the minions of the Burning Hells in spectacular ways.

The release date is still unannounced, but this will be one to look forward to. I hope there is a cow level!

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