It was so bad I swore off all blizzard games forever (the right decision, it turns out). IIRC the box the game came in showed off the pvp mode that never actually made it in lol.

I remember bashing my head against the wall trying to beat the game on Inferno. Belial was an actual nightmare that you absolutely could not get hit on to even think about killing. Attempts would take upwards of 10 minutes. Funny enough the game really got easier after that and finishing up through Act 4 took a fraction of the time Act 2 took (though Diablo was fairly difficult too).

They seriously tuned literally everything at launch to maximize the profits from the RMAH and then toss it aside at a later time in a show of “good will.” It was so blatant even after a couple of nerfs that that was what they were aiming for. Money sucking fucks.

Later on in its existence it became a much more fun game. They did a great job of turning it around years later. Late D3 remains one of my favorite ARPG experiences just because you actually felt megapowerful.

i didn't play it until after the expansion i think, so i missed all that shit lol