Alternate Aesop Interpretation: While intended as a deconstruction of Heroic Fantasy in where humanity is at the whims of higher powers, over time the biggest mistakes happened because many of the cast constantly dropped the ball as they Didn't Think This Through. The Dark Wanderer jamming Diablo's soulstone into his head at the end of the first game, Tyrael making an obviously scared Marius go to the gates of Hell and not accounting for him in II which led to Baal corrupting the Worldstone, Malthael smashing the Black Soulstone in III that released the various evils and the many impulsive decisions made by the cast in IV. Of course, one could also argue that that's part of the Genre Deconstruction, with it highlighting the fallibility of the various otherwise-noble heroes (or, at the worst, antagonists with good intentions) who inadvertently make things even worse than they already are because of their hubristic or half-thought-through decisions.
Alt-itis: Much of the appeal comes from taking its simplistic gameplay style and sprucing it up through constant character customization. Shifting between characters and character builds are a sure-fire way to fall prey to the game's infamously addictive nature.
Better Off Sold: The copious amounts of low-quality weapons and armor you come across are good for gold and little else.
Crack Pairing: There is a huge chunk of the fandom that pairs Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, with Auriel, the Archangel of Hope. Mephisto canonically respects only Auriel, believing her virtue is the "only virtue with purpose," as without Hope, suffering has no meaning. He likewise goes out of his way to flirt with her, just to be a troll, at a meeting during The Sin War trilogy with some fans even theorizing this means Auriel is Lilith and Lucion's mother. Auriel, however, hates Mephisto's guts and ignores him with supreme effort during the meeting without ever responding. The odds that the kindest, most loving of all the angels would even contemplate a relationship with one of, if not the most sadistic monster in all creation is pretty far-fetched.
Saying that you like Diablo III and IV is fine. Saying that you prefer them over Diablo II, on the other hand, will get you ground to a fine dust.
Heaven and Hell forbid you say anything good about Diablo Immortal, lest you be cancelled for what many consider to be a business model more immoral than the Lord of Terror himself.
Fan Nickname: Combines this with Malicious Misnaming. The immense hatred towards Diablo Immortal and what it stood for a majority of gamers caused them to just omit the 't' and instead call it ''Diablo Immoral'note Carbot Animations wouldn't be the first/only one to use the term.
Harsher in Hindsight: The "Do you guys not have phones?!" quote became this due to updated ticketing and entry regluations for Blizzcon 2019. As stated in the fifth bullet point on this page, the only way to get into Blizzcon 2019 after successfully purchasing a ticket is with a smartphone that also has the spyware AXS app installed.
It Was His Sled: The path to the "secret" cow level? Not at all a secret nowadays since it was a false rumor. However, there turns out to be one in Diablo II.
Diablo II: Baal, Lord of Destruction, is the middle brother of the Prime Evils and far more clever than he is typically given credit for. More straightforward than his wantonly sadistic siblings, Baal was the first of them to suspect his niece Lilith's theft of the Worldstone. After following the Dark Exile, Baal emerges thanks to manipulating the wandering patsy to Diablo Marius into freeing him, later appearing to him as the angel Tyrael so that Marius will surrender his Soulstone to him before he executes Marius as a "reward" and proceeding to go on to corrupt the Worldstone to seize control of the world.
Lilith, Daughter of Hatred, is an ancient demon of the Burning Hells and child of the Prime Evil Mephisto. Long ago, tired of the Eternal Conflict, Lilith seduced the angel Inarius and created the world of Sanctuary with him. When they bore the Nephalem, Lilith destroyed their allies so she alone might utilize the power of their children. Returning from oblivion to seduce the Nephalem Uldyssian and subvert the church of the Triune to her own ends, Lilith's schemes came to naught when she was again banished by Inarius. Summoned anew millennia later, Lilith slowly warps humanity to her own purposes and sets events in motion so she might consume Mephisto and take his power. Breaking her old lover Inarius with words to open him to a fatal blow, Lilith utltimately comes within a hairsbreadth of destroying her hated father to gain enough power so she might turn humanity into a weapon to conquer all creation.
The villagers of Nevesk at first glance appear to be the traditional town in dire need of a hero, yet in truth are cultists in league with the demoness Lilith. Accepting Lilith's promises of freedom through sin, the villagers murder their town priest and trick and drug the monk who comes to investigate the disappearance. They play him off as a disturbed survivor of a demon attack and collectively play the role of desperate peasants to convince the Wanderer to "protect" them from demons and lead a nigh suicidal charge into a local ruined fort. Laying their dead priest as a trap to summon a powerful demon to fight the Wanderer, they take advantage of their survival to throw a victory party and drug their savior to serve as a powerful sacrifice for Lilith.
Elias, the Pale Man, is a former Horadrim prodigy who believed the world was irreparably lost without swift intervention. Fearful of the future of humanity, Elias delved into forbidden lore and came away with the belief that only Lilith, Daughter of Hatred, could save Sanctuary. After fooling even the tree of knowledge with his immortality to achieve knowledge of the great ritual, Elias proceeded to manipulate treasure hunters into a sacrifice to call Lilith back to the world. Serving her will, Elias assists in her plans so she may consume her powerful father and destroy the Prime Evils forever with full belief that any sacrifices are necessary to safeguard Sanctuary's future.
"Do you guys not have phones?!" ExplanationThis was the response of Wyatt Cheng when a well-known Diablo player asked whether Diablo: Immortal would be released for PC, to which Cheng replied that it would be mobile-only, which was met with a very negative reaction. Cheng's response (despite being considered a panic reaction) was regarded as one of the dumbest PR missteps of the last few years, particularly because he missed the point.
"Is this an out-of-season April Fools joke?"ExplanationAn actual question that was asked at Blizzcon 2018 during the Diablo: Immortal Q&A by a fan. The question was met with cheers, with some people nicknaming the fan "Lord of Destruction".
Most Wonderful Sound: Loot hitting the floor. There's a reason Blizzard hasn't changed the sound set since the first game.
No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: In spite of Diablo Immortal being at the receiving end of mocking memes and poor launch reviews, the game nevertheless managed to be a financial success, earning $1 million a day thanks to its microtransactions.
Play the Game, Skip the Story: The Diablo franchise does in fact have a story, and there are the hardcore "lore-fans" who spend time debating of it, but most players ignore it completely. The franchise also has loads of supplemental materials. Of course, as a result, Blizzard became savvy enough to know they can get away with Cliché Storm plots (and trailers) and only a few Tropers on this site will actually notice. Anyone who only played multi-player probably didn't even know there was a story; it skips all the cinematics and most of the background is in the manual.
Scrappy Mechanic: The lack of gold auto-pickup is quite annoying in Diablo I and Diablo II to the point that it's considered to be much more fun experience to just ignore gold piles unless players come across ones that provides a lot of gold. It's not until Diablo III that gold auto-pickup is finally made a thing, and Diablo II finally gets gold auto-pickup when its 2021 remaster, Diablo II: Resurrected, finally comes around.
Tainted by the Preview: Diablo: Immortal was hit hard with this when it was revealed to be a mobile spinoff, a concept that has become highly controversial among gamers for various reasons. It also didn't help that they announced it at Blizzcon 2018 to an audience made up almost entirely of PC and/or console gamers.
Take That, Scrappy!: Blizzard acknowledged Wirt's scrappiness back in the first game. You find his dead body in II and, when clicked on it, a fountain of gold pops out.
, the only way to get into Blizzcon 2019 after successfully purchasing a ticket is with a smartphone that also has the spyware AXS app installed.