Diablo III

I still have something of a love-hate relationship with Diablo III. When I'm in the groove of playing it, the slick skill system and super-cool abilities allow me to handily ignore the utter lack of creativity in monster and level design. But then I go back to town to empty my pack, and find items like Barbarian weapons with intelligence bonuses, or bows with strength bonuses -- in other words, items that are useful only to classes that don't exist. I want to upgrade my blacksmith's crafting level, but to do that I need some items from the Auction House, items which haven't been searchable for days. I enter an event portal, and a network hiccup causes the fight to freeze-frame at precisely the worst possible time.

Again: this is a great game when you're playing it. But it's distressing how much of the game surrounding that core feels lazy, or broken, or exploitative.

I've played all five classes through Normal mode now, seeing most of their unique abilities, and I generally enjoyed each of them. I never really "got" the Witch Doctor, and the Demon Hunter strikes me as requiring too much micromanagement to stay alive, but I really enjoyed the Wizard's ability to crowd-control, and the Monk and Barbarian's survivability. I plan to experiment with those guys in Nightmare to some extent, although I don't know how much longer these modes will string me along.

Progress: Finished Normal and passed level 30 with all classes