The Blizzard booth at PAX 09 was crowded, with gameplay demos of the new World of Warcraft Cataclysm expansion, Starcraft II, and, of course, Diablo III. Despite already showing a high level of polish, Diablo III still lacks any definitive release date, and much of the game, namely classes, remains under wraps. The demo stations at PAX allowed around 10-15 minutes of free exploration with one of the four announced classes, including the recently revealed Monk class. I was actually a little surprised at how long the demo lasted; the lines for the game were among the worst at the convention.

After waiting nearly for 45 minutes, I got my hands on the Monk class. Just as most of the major sites have mentioned, the class plays like a Monk should: a melee glass cannon. He is fast, tenacious, and a real damage powerhouse. While only a few special abilities were available in the demo, I especially liked the chance-on-hit “Five Pointed Palm Exploding Heart Technique”

If you’ve watched any of the videos, you’ve noticed that Blizzard isn’t straying too far from the Diablo roots, and the game certainly does not feel unfamiliar, nor does it feel like a huge step for the series. Instead, Diablo III feels like a refined and polished half step, more of a Diablo 2.5 than Diablo 3. This shouldn’t necessarily be interpreted as a bad thing, Diablo is a fundamentally timeless game; a graphical facelift and a few new features should satiate most fans.

–Jeff (Gamertag: Decksathron)