1. Demon Hunter:
• best (least annoying) male voice so far, looks pretty cool, and who doesn’t like the idea of dual-wielding crossbows
• felt a bit weak at the start of the game, got a lot stronger/easier as the game progressed and I leveled up
• personally not fond of having to keep running away from enemies (so they can’t hit me) while shooting them
• Rapid Fire works best if you hold down the key/mouse-button to use it, rather than single casting it (silly me) – does a fairly good job of taking down big mobs or groups of them
• Skeleton King battle felt relatively easy – the Chakram took care of the skeletons he summoned, and being ranged kept me out of (most of) his attacks
2. Witch Doctor:
• not fond of the (male) voice – not sure what I’d expect/prefer instead
• I don’t like the look of the witch doctor… I know it’s part of his character , but his twitching makes me think of an old man, hit masks look silly and mojos look like rubber chickens
• felt quite strong all round, between the poison from the darts (doing damage over time) and Zombie Dogs, multiple mobs were getting damaged with minimal effort
• Summon Zombie Dogs was a real game changer – they obstruct mobs from getting to you, and mobs attack them… so you don’t have to keep running away as much (see Demon Hunter)
• Horrify was also quite handy at keeping mobs away – even worked on some rare mobs and mini-bosses
• ran low on mana fairly often, later in the game  – definitely think mana-regen gear is be needed (admittedly I kept using my Poison Dart spell, rather than a bow)
• Skeleton King battle was also relatively easy – the dogs occupied the mobs and got in his way, I kept back and kept shooting at him
3. Barbarian:
• looks like an oaf, sounds like an oaf, and reminds me of the ogres in Warcraft
• starts off strong – I was very excited when the first few mobs I attacked splatted and went flying, but not so good when surrounded by mobs, even with Cleave it just didn’t help, felt like I was taking damage way too easily (died on two occasions to two Unburieds) – found myself running away from mobs and trying to take them on one at a time
• it seemed like health globes weren’t dropping (maybe I just needed them more than with the other classes?) – taking damage (being melee) while not gaining life is a recipe for disaster… definitely think life gain, or more armor, would be needed
• Leap is a great ability for doing damage to a bunch of mobs, getting away from mobs, or for moving around the map a bit easier (don’t forget you can jump up and down levels)
• got frustrated several times with a mob that would set up out in front of me (especially in a doorway) while I was targeting another mob – my character would just stand there, unable to move toward and attack the targeted, while taking damage from the mob in front of you – something to keep an eye out for :/ (ranged classes would shoot toward the targeted mob, and hit the mob in front of you in the process)
• Skeleton King battle was not fun at all – having to be in melee range meant I was taking all of his attacks while only dishing out my own, plus had the extra skeletons to contend with (which also weren’t dropping health globes!)
4. Wizard:
• quite an annoying “better-than-you” voice – fits his character, just not sure I want to listen to it all game long
• seems to do quite a bit of damage high and low level
• the “Signature” abilities don’t cost mana (see Witch Doctor), which is great
• Shock Pulse (free to cast) and Arcane Orb are great for clearing out passages, or when swamped by mobs – especially when you spam them ;)
• Disintegrate does some serious damage, but is very mana hungry, so will probably need some mana regen for it
• felt much easier to take on multiple (even special) mobs and bosses than with the Barbarian – being ranged gives you a big advantage
• Skeleton King took a little longer than some of the classes, but was easy enough – kill the skeletons with Shock Pulse, and keep your distance from him
5. Monk:
• not as rewarding as the Barbarian when melee’ing mobs
• seems a bit strange to have two swords equipped (to increase your weapon damage), but then run around punching mobs
• Deadly Reach gives you some ranged attack, and generates Spirit
• Cyclone Strike is a nice way of dealing with a bunch of mobs, but costs a lot of Spirit
• Dashing Strike is handy for getting to, or away, from mobs (a bit like Barbarian’s Leap)
• would definitely benefit from passive Spirit gain
• took on groups of mobs (even three Unburieds at once – see Barbarian) quite fine
• Mantras might be useful, but I’m not sure they’re worth a skill slot and having to recast them every 3 mins (or every 7 mins if you spend a passive skill on them)
• Skeleton King wasn’t easy – being melee you still take lots of damage – but having a (mini)ranged attack sure helped!

I thought Monk was going to be my class of choice – being able to handle groups of mobs, attack ranged, have healing spells, and Seven-Sided Strike is awesome but just such a later game skill – but I think I’m most fond of the Demon Hunter or Witch Doctor (only really due to his Zombie Dogs which make things easier).

Back on topic, there’s a great Gamasutra article titled “Postmortem: Blizzard’s Diablo II” which gives you an inside look in to the development that went in to Diablo 2 and lessons learned from Diablo 1, etc – some interesting stuff.

Next up are three great YouTube videos by “Force Strategy Gaming“, covering the Diablo Lore leading up to Diablo 3, a great way to catchup before the releases:

Part 1 – Pre-Diablo:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Part 2 – Diablo 1:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Part 3 – Diablo 2:

Click here to view the embedded video.

It seems good old Deckard Cain is still around, yabbering away as always. Did I mention the terrain (walls/pillars/etc) are destructable? While the interface looks very similar to Diablo 2′s, it’s been changed to make it easier to switch between skills and abilities. So far this game looks incredible.