If you walk into a room of hardcore Action RPG fans and ask if is Diablo 3 good, you’re going to get a fight. You’ll hear about the "cartoon graphics" or the disastrous 2012 launch with the Real Money Auction House. People love to hold a grudge. But honestly? Most of those complaints are over a decade old, and the game they’re talking about doesn’t really exist anymore.
Right now, in 2026, Diablo 3 is a polished, hyper-fast, dopamine-injecting machine. It’s the "arcade" version of hell. While Diablo 4 is busy being dark and tactical, and Path of Exile 2 is making you do a PhD in spreadsheets, Diablo 3 just wants you to blow up 500 demons in thirty seconds.
It’s fast. It’s loud. It’s kinda ridiculous. And for a lot of people, that’s exactly why it’s still better than its successors.
The Power Fantasy: Why It Feels Different
Most modern ARPGs want to make you feel like a survivor struggling against the tide. Diablo 3 makes you feel like a god having a bad day. By the time you hit the endgame, you aren't just swinging a sword; you are a localized natural disaster.
You’ve got Barbarians that turn into literal tornadoes of steel. There are Wizards that freeze entire screens of enemies before shattering them with a meteor that takes up half the map. The combat feedback—that "crunchy" feeling when you hit a monster—is still arguably the best in the genre. Blizzard nailed the physics engine here. Bodies don't just disappear; they fly off bridges and explode into piles of loot.
Build Freedom (No PhD Required)
One thing people get wrong about "complexity" is thinking that more menus equal a better game. Diablo 3 uses a skill rune system. You want your Fireball to explode into three smaller Fireballs? Just click a button. Want it to heal you instead? Click a different one.
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You don't have to pay a massive in-game gold fee to "respec" your character like you do in Diablo 4. You don't have to follow a 50-page guide to avoid bricking your character like in Path of Exile. You just experiment. If a build sucks, you change it in town in five seconds. That freedom is incredibly rare in 2026.
The State of Diablo 3 in 2026
Blizzard moved the game into "maintenance mode" a while back, but don't let that term scare you. It basically means they aren't making brand-new assets or expansions, but they are rotating through the greatest hits of past seasons.
We’re currently seeing a rotation of the most powerful seasonal themes ever created. Think Sanctified Items from Season 27 or the Altar of Rites from Season 28. These themes aren't just small stat boosts; they fundamentally break the game in the best way possible.
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- Player Count: Believe it or not, the game still pulls in over 25,000 concurrent players during season starts.
- The Altar of Rites: This is now a permanent fixture. It provides massive Quality of Life (QoL) upgrades, like your pet automatically picking up and salvaging trash items for you.
- Seasons: They usually last about 3-4 months. Season 36 just wrapped up, and the community is still very much alive on Discord and Reddit.
Diablo 3 vs. Diablo 4: The 2026 Reality
It’s the elephant in the room. Why play the old one?
Honestly, Diablo 4 has gotten much better since the Vessel of Hatred expansion, but it’s a different vibe. D4 is a "hobby" game—it wants you to log in every day, do world bosses, and grind for hours. Diablo 3 is a "vacation" game. You can jump in for a weekend, hit max level in two hours (with a power level), blast through a bunch of Greater Rifts, feel like a hero, and then go play something else.
D3 is also way more colorful. Some people hate the "WoW-style" art, but in a dark room at 2 AM, being able to actually see what killed you is a nice perk. The screen doesn't turn into a gray-and-brown soup when things get chaotic.
Where the Game Actually Fails
I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s perfect. It isn't. If you’re looking for a deep, emotional story, you’re in the wrong place. The dialogue is campy. The villain, Azmodan, literally calls you on a "demon hologram" every five minutes to tell you his secret plan. It’s a bit silly.
Also, the "itemization" is very fixed. Once you get your 6-piece class set, your build is basically decided. You’re just looking for the same item but with 5% better stats (Ancient or Primal versions). There’s no "crafting" your own weird gear from scratch. You wear what the set tells you to wear.
If you hate "power creep," Diablo 3 will drive you insane. We’re talking about damage numbers in the trillions. $1,000,000,000,000$. It’s so high the game eventually just stops showing the full numbers and starts using abbreviations.
Is It Worth Buying Today?
If you can find the Eternal Collection on sale—which happens almost every month—it’s a steal. You get the base game, the Reaper of Souls expansion (which is mandatory, don't play without it), and the Necromancer class.
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It’s also arguably the best ARPG ever made for consoles. The dodge-roll mechanic they added to the PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch versions makes the game feel like a twin-stick shooter. Playing this on a Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch while sitting on the couch is probably the "correct" way to experience it at this point.
What to Do First if You Start Now
Don't just jump into the standard campaign and slowly walk through the story. That’s the 2012 way to play, and it’s boring.
- Create a Seasonal Character: Even if you’re a total newbie. You get a free set of high-end armor (Haedrig’s Gift) just for completing a few simple tasks.
- Get a Power Level: Join a community chat in-game. Ask for a "PL." Someone will invite you to a game, and you’ll hit the level cap of 70 in about 10 minutes.
- Unlock the Altar of Rites: Focus on this immediately. It’s located in Act I (New Tristram) up the hill. The buffs it gives—like "no level requirement for items"—make leveling future characters a joke.
- Run Greater Rifts: This is the real game. Pushing as high as you can go (up to Tier 150) is where the actual challenge and loot are hidden.
Diablo 3 isn't trying to be a dark, gritty simulation of a dying world anymore. It’s a neon-soaked, demon-slaying party. It’s the game you play when you want to turn your brain off and watch the screen explode. In a world of overly complicated "Live Service" games, that simplicity is exactly why it’s still worth your time.